JAMES  SPEED 

A  Personality 

JAMES  SPEED,  His  Grandson 


LINCOLN  ROOM 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


MEMORIAL 

'the  Class  of  1901 

founded  by 

HARLAN  HOYT  HORNER 

and 
HENRIETTA  CALHOUN  HORNER 


Privately  Printed 


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CY. 


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JAMES  SPEED 

1833 
FROM  AN  OIL  PAINTING,  ARTIST  UNKNOWN 


JAMES  SPEED 

A  Personality) 


BY 

JAMES  SPEED 

His  Grandson 


JOHN  P.  MORTON  &  COMPANY 

INCORPORATED 

LOUISVILLE,  KENTUCKY 
1914 


PREFACE. 

MEN  come  and  go  and  a  few  names  are 
left  on  the  pages  of  the  histories  of  our  most 
strenuous  periods.  About  these  great  names 
a  group  of  lesser  names  usually  cluster.  Gradu- 
ally through  the  years  that  pass  the  reading 
public  connects  a  certain  well-known  name 
with  some  particular  period.  The  man's  face 

probably   looks   out   at   the   reader   from   the 
t> 

printed  page  and  a  few  of  the  highest  points 

in  his  public  career  are  recorded,  but  the  read- 
ing public  and  the  world  at  large  know  abso- 

•  ^ 

lutely  nothing  of  him  as  a  man  in  his  everyday 
life. 

The  subject  of  this  little  memoir  was  one 
of  those  lesser  names  which  clustered  about  the 
name  of  Lincoln  during  the  strenuous  times 
when  the  North  and  South  were  divided.  The 
main  thought  in  this  volume  is  to  go  behind 
public  events  and  to  see  something  of  the  man 


as  he  appeared  to  his  own  immediate  family 
and  to  his  most  intimate  friends;  to  know  him 
as  he  revealed  himself  in  his  letters  to  his 
mother,  to  his  wife,  and  to  his  close  relatives, 
and  in  the  large  hospitality  of  his  own  home. 

The  thought  of  preserving  in  a  small  volume 
what  is  known  of  a  personality  that  had  grown 
and  developed  before  and  during  the  days  of 
stress  of  the  Civil  War  became  a  strong  desire 
on  the  part  of  James  Speed's  nephew,  James 
Breckinridge  Speed.  Gradually  this  desire  grew 
until  he  felt  he  must  arrange  for  its  fulfillment. 
Frail  in  health,  James  Breckinridge  Speed 
passed  away  without  the  gratification  of  seeing 
his  affectionate  tribute  in  permanent  form. 

A  year  and  a  half  later  this  work  was  en- 
trusted to  the  author  by  Hattie  Bishop  Speed, 
his  widow,  and  reverently  finished  as  one  of  his 
most  cherished  wishes. 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Facing 
Page 

Frontispiece 

"  Farmington  " 4 

Old  Spring  House .  12 

Front  Door  at  "  Farmington  " 28 

The  Broad  Green  Lap  of  Kentucky 36 

President  Lincoln  and  Cabinet 52 

Tempered  by  the  Farmer's  Kindly  Touch 60 

James  Speed,  from  Brady's  Picture  of  Lincoln 

and  his  Cabinet 84 

James  Speed,  from  Oil  Painting  by  Irwin 100 

James  Speed,  from  Oil  Painting  by  Irwin 116 

Big  Rock 124 


JAMES  SPEED 

A  Personality 


CHAPTER  I. 

1812—1832 

"FARMINGTON"  in  the  spring  of  1812 
showed  eighty  broad  acres  of  tender  sage 
green  hemp;  acres  of  crab  bloom  that  was 
heavy  with  the  drowsy  hum  of  the  plundering 
honey  bees  climbed  the  swelling  upland;  many 
other  acres,  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  were 
a  mellow  dull  brown,  dotted  here  and  there 
with  the  new  corn  that  was  pushing  up  into  the 
sunlight.  Ample  old-fashioned  barns  and  out- 
buildings crowded  close  about  a  substantial 
country  house,  while  in  the  hollow  below  a 
moss-covered  rock  spring  house  was  the  fountain 
head  of  a  small,  clear  stream,  whose  steep 
banks  and  surface  were  green  with  young 
aromatic  mint  and  tender  pungent  cress.  Above 
the  house,  the  fields,  the  orchard,  and  the 
murmuring  stream  curved  the  sky,  washed 
tender  blue  by  the  soft  spring  rain. 


James  Speed 

"Farmington"  lay  in  the  broad  green  lap 
of  Jefferson  County,  Kentucky.  Kentucky  in 
1812  was  exquisitely  beautiful  in  a  newness  that 
had  only  lately  been  tempered  by  the  farmer's 
kindly  touch.  It  was  a  country  that  darkened 
occasionally  with  the  flight  of  countless  millions 
of  wild  pigeons;  it  was  a  country  that  was 
beginning  to  check  the  careless  hurry  of  its 
streams  that  they  might  grind  the  farmer's 
corn  in  rude  mills  built  of  rough-hewn  limestone; 
it  was  a  country  that  was  often  hazy  with  the 
blue  smoke  of  huge  piles  of  logs  which  were 
burned  to  clear  the  land  for  cultivation;  it  was 
a  country  where  countless  centuries  had  hoarded 
their  surplus  fertility  so  that  hemp  and  corn 
were  grown  on  the  same  fields  year  after  year. 
In  fact,  the  best  farmers  believed  the  land  to  be 
inexhaustible  in  its  plentiful  store  of  plant  food. 
They  were  so  accustomed  to  a  soil  to  which 
Nature  had  given  her  best  gifts  of  splendid 
timber  and  virgin  fertility,  that  prodigal  hospi- 


A  Personality 

tality  was  almost  a  part  of  the  landowner's 
religion. 

War  clouds  hung  low  in  1812,  and  soldiers 
were  being  hurried  across  the  river  to  repulse 
the  English  and  their  Indian  allies  along  the 
northern  border  of  the  United  States.  Many 
of  the  soldiers  from  Kentucky  and  other  States, 
unequipped,  without  blankets  or  even  sufficient 
provisions,  camped  on  Beargrass  Creek  near 
"Farmington."  These  men  were  in  sore  need 
of  the  prodigal  hospitality  for  which  the  rich 
landowners  of  Kentucky  had  become  noted. 
The  owner  of  "Farmington's"  broad  acres,  John 
Speed,  gave  the  blankets  from  his  beds  to  the 
soldiers,  buying  heavy  buffalo  robes  for  home 
use;  and  he  also  emptied  his  smokehouse  and 
corncribs,  which  had  been  filled  by  the  labor 
of  his  slaves,  that  the  men  might  be  fed. 

At  this  early  date  John  Speed  saw  two 
clouds  hovering  over  the  household  at  "Farm- 
ington"  and  over  the  whole  State  of  Kentucky. 

3 


James  Speed 

One  of  these  clouds,  which  was  dark  and  impend- 
ing, the  war  with  England,  was  recognized  by 
every  one;  the  other,  even  more  dark  and  more 
threatening,  human  slavery,  was  seen  by  few, 
for  it  lay  so  low  upon  the  distant  horizon  that 
its  nearest  edge  could  merely  be  seen.  It  is 
rather  strange  that  John  Speed  recognized  this 
second  cloud  when  it  was  so  far  away,  because 
he  owned  and  used  the  labor  of  seventy  slaves 
upon  the  fields  at  "Farmington."  However,  he 
never  at  any  time  seemed  to  feel  that  his  slaves 
were  anything  more  than  a  trust  which  he  must 
hold  and  use  as  humanely  and  as  fairly  as 
possible.  He  felt  that  eventually  the  owners  of 
slaves  in  Kentucky  would  awaken  to  the  full 
meaning  and  the  debasing  effects  of  the  system 
and  free  the  negro. 

It  was  into  such  an  environment  of  lavish 
nature,  prodigal  wastefulness,  ample  hospitality, 
human  slavery,  and  a  closely  woven  home  life, 
that  James  Speed  was  born  March  n,  1812, 

4 


A  Personality 

one  of  a  family  of  six  brothers  and  five  sisters. 
As  he  grew  into  boyhood  there  were  trips  on 
horseback  to  the  old  Peay  mill,  which  still 
stands  in  ruins,  covered  with  vines,  near  Big 
Rock  in  Cherokee  Park.  There  were  hunting 
expeditions  into  the  Knobs  or  to  "pigeon 
roosts,"  that  the  table  might  be  supplied  with 
game.  There  were  other  wonderful  horseback 
journeys  down  to  the  salt  licks  on  Salt  River 
near  Shepherdsville,  where  his  father,  John 
Speed,  manufactured  salt  for  the  surrounding 
country.  It  was  while  waiting  for  his  corn  to 
be  ground  at  the  mill  on  Beargrass  and  on  his  ^ 
trips  to  the  salt  licks  that  he  learned  to  love  the 
gentle  art  of  angling,  for  at  that  time  every 
small  stream  teemed  with  black  bass  or  bream 
which  could  be  caught  in  the  swirl  below  any 
dam  or  other  obstruction.  It  was  while  living 
an  outdoor,  active  life  that  he  became  a  true 
lover  of  the  lights  and  shadows  under  the  trees, 
the  pulsing  lights  at  dusk  and  dawn,  the  odor 


James  Speed 

of  roses  wet  with  dew,  and  the  soft  harmonies 
of  wind  and  stream. 

Added  to  the  splendid  physical  environment 
in  which  James  Speed  was  born  was  an  ancestry 
which  meant  a  great  deal  both  in  mental  and 
moral  fibre.  His  family,  both  on  his  mother's 
and  father's  side,  were  from  old  English  stock, 
that  had  emigrated  to  America  and  settled  in 
Virginia  in  the  early  colonial  days.  This 
splendid  stock,  transplanted  into  pioneer  life  in 
a  new  country,  grew  vigorously.  From  Virginia 
both  his  father  and  mother  came  with  their 
parents  over  the  old  Wilderness  Road  into  the 
newer  land  of  promise — Kentucky. 

A  large  part  of  the  boy's  education  undoubt- 
edly came  through  contact  with  farm  life  in  the 
good  old  days,  the  companionship  of  a  father 
who  was  educated  in  the  best  sense  of  the  word, 
and  a  strong  mother,  who  was  Lucy  Gilmer 
Fry,  a  member  of  an  old  family  which  was 
devoted  to  educational  work.  Of  course,  he 

6 


A  Personality 

went  to  the  little  country  school,  taught  by 
Mr.  Smith,  who  evidently  believed  thoroughly 
in  the  birch  rod,  because  years  later  James 
Speed  told  an  interesting  story  of  having  had 
words  with  the  old  gentleman  concerning  slav- 
ery, and  at  once  the  schoolmaster  reached  up  as 
though  to  lay  hands  on  the  familiar  birch  rod, 
which  was  always  on  the  wall  within  easy  reach. 
Later,  after  James  Speed  had  finished  his  work 
in  the  little  schoolhouse,  he  entered  St.  Joseph's 
College  at  Bardstown,  and  graduated  from  that 
institution  at  seventeen  years  of  age.  Some 
time  was  spent  as  a  clerk  in  a  lawyer's  office, 
and  he  went  to  Lexington  to  prepare  for  the 
practice  of  law. 

It  is  rather  interesting  to  note  that  during  these 
two  years  of  transition  from  boyhood  into  man- 
hood he  took  himself  very  seriously,  as  do  many 
youths.  Several  letters 'to  his  father  show  that  the 
weight  of  the  universe  was  on  his  youthful  shoul- 
ders and  he  was  sermonizing  at  great  length. 


James  Speed 

Lexington,  February  9,  1831. 
Dear  Father: 

Man,  with  you,  is  the  creature  of  chance,  or 
rather  moulded  as  circumstances  may  happen,  and 
with  me,  in  all  circumstances  he  is  the  creature  of 
habit.  Of  this  there  can  be  no  doubt.  And  his 
habits  when  formed,  if  virtuous  and  correct,  can  be 
easily  and  without  much  effort  continued,  and  if 
vicious  and  incorrect  he  will  need  almost  super- 
human resolution  to  get  rid  of  them;  therefore,  I 
conclude  that  a  man's  future  welfare  and  success 
depends  upon  his  forming  laudable  and  meritorious 
habits,  and  the  term  habit>  may  be  considered  as 
embracing  the  regular  mode  of  exercising  all  the 
faculties  of  his  mind  as  well  as  the  strength  or 
powers  of  his  corporeal  system.  It  is  unnecessary 
to  illustrate  by  example  that  it  is  much  easier  when 
you  commence  anything  to  obtain  sufficient  in- 
formation to  carry  you  through  without  much 
blundering  than  it  is  to  commence  at  hazard  and 
depend  upon  time  and  chance  to  let  you  know 
that  you  are  in  the  correct  track,  for  they  are  many 
and  obvious.  All  then  depends  upon  the  formation 
of  one's  habits.  But  here  the  question  naturally 
suggests  itself,  what  habits  are  to  be  formed  and 
what  are  not?  This  query,  when  put  by  me,  it 
would  seem  that  the  answer  was  a  clear  and  obvious 
one,  viz.,  my  habits  must  be  studious  and  moral. 
But  I  set  out  in  this  letter  by  saying  that  man  was 


A  Personality 

the  creature  of  circumstances  and  in  those  circum- 
stances the  creature  of  habit.  Habit  is  then 
secondary  to  circumstances  and  must  be  in  some 
measure  controlled  by  them.  Understand  me 
when  I  say  that  habit  is  subservient  to  circum- 
stances not  as  including  habits  of  morality,  for  I 
consider  that  they  always  are  or  ought  to  be 
settled  before  any  one  arrives  at  my  age. 

Lexington,  April  9,  1831. 
Dear  Father: 

The  clothes  that  I  brought  with  me  are  all  good 
except  my  cravats  and  old  blacks  and  with  Burns, 
I  say,  "God  bless  'urn,'  they  have  served  me  well," 
but  are  now  getting  pretty  well  upon  the  wane. 
This  morning  I  called  at  a  slop-shop.  A  summer 
coat  costs  ten  dollars,  summer  pantaloons  two  and 
a  half,  waistcoats  from  two  to  four.  I  really 
forget  what  they  said  their  price  for  cravats  were, 
though  Mother  can  rate  them  in  proportion.  The 
coat  is  made  of  black  bumbizeene,  the  pantaloons 
yellow  nankeen  and  white  drilling,  waistcoats  all 
kinds  and  colors.  It  is  a  new  business  with  me, 
and  whether  cheap  or  not  I  will  take  Mother's 
say  so  for  it. 

Much  better  pleased  in  every  respect  than  I 
anticipated,  and  especially  with  the  ladies  of  Lex- 


James  Speed 

ington.  Tell  my  sisters  of  this  and  tell  them  that 
all  they  hear  there  of  their  stiffness,  etc.,  etc.,  is 
altogether  a  bugbear. 

Lexington,  May  27,  1832. 
Dear  Father: 

Mother's  fears  about  my  health  were  all  idle. 
I  am  now  entirely  well,  both  as  to  eyes  and  body. 
I  was  sure  that  I  could  come  up  without  any  risk. 

I  attend  daily  a  class  that  is  reading  Chitty's 
Work  on  Pleading,  a  book  that  I  read  last  winter, 
and  am  examined  with  Richmond  and  Massie 
twice  a  week  in  Adams  on  the  Action  of  Ejectment. 

The  relaxation  I  took  whilst  at  home  has  un- 
hinged my  mind  a  good  deal;  I  think,  however, 
that  when  I  can  fix  my  attention  it  is  more  vigorous 
than  it  was,  and  I  think  that  I  can  comprehend 
difficult  points  with  less  labor  than  I  could  before 
I  left  here.  My  quickened  facility  of  comprehen- 
sion may  make  up  for  my  incapability  of  the  very 
close  attention  I  could  command  before.  The 
faculty  of  attention  is  entirely  dependent  upon 
habit,  and  will  be  easily  acquired  again. 


10 


A  Personality 


CHAPTER  II. 

« 

1832-1844 

IN  this  small  book  the  only  effort  made  has 
been  to  secure  enough  material  of  an  intimate 
nature  that  the  man  himself  may  tell  the  story 
of  his  own  growth  and  development.  It  will, 
of  course,  be  absolutely  necessary  from  time 
to  time  to  introduce  a  story  that  has  been  told 
and  retold  in  the  family,  or  a  scrap  of  history 
that  is  fairly  well  known,  that  the  reader  may 
be  able  to  piece  these  fragments  together  into 
a  complete  picture  of  a  delightful  personality 
that  was  loved  by  young  and  old,  black  and 
white. 

Few  men  appear  to  grow  steadily.  It 
seems  that  men  grow  unconsciously,  and  also 
grow  during  certain  periods  of  their  history. 


James  Speed 

Frequently  there  are  long  intervals  between 
periods  of  activity;  and  even  at  times  there  may 
be  spaces  in  life  when  the  person  who  is  really 
capable  of  big  and  strong  things  loses  faith  in 
himself  and  every  one  else.  That  James  Speed 
was  no  exception  to  this  rule  can  be  easily  seen 
from  a  little  diary  which  he  started  in  the  year 
'44.  This  diary  was  found  in  an  old  yellow 
account  book  among  a  stack  of  old  briefs,  papers, 
and  receipts.  It  was  begun  about  three  years 
after  his  marriage  to  Jane  Leiper  Cochran,  and 
gives  intimate  glimpses  of  his  business  life,  of 
his  thoughts  and  observations,  of  events  as  they 
happened  in  his  work-a-day  world. 

In  this  diary,  too,  there  are  frequent  obser- 
vations of  weather  conditions,  fruits,  and  crops, 
which  give  a  bit  of  insight  into  his  love  of  the 
out-of-doors.  This  wonderful  love  of  Nature  in 
all  of  her  moods  had  a  marked  effect  upon  his 
whole  makeup,  for  even  when  most  despondent 
or  over-sensitive,  the  out-of-doors  seemed  to  be 


o 

r 

*  o 


I  3 
H 

H     T 

ll 

PI 


A  Personality 

the  needed  healing  balm.  During  the  six  weeks 
that  this  diary  was  kept  almost  daily  notes  were 
made,  but  the  following  brief  extracts  are 
enough  to  tell  something  of  his  development  at 
this  peculiar  period  in  his  life. 

Louisville,  March  n,  1844. 

I  am  this  day  thirty-two  years  old.  Divers 
years  past  I  commenced  the  keeping  of  a  diary. 
It  was  begun  as  a  wholesome  exercise  of  the  mind 
and  that  it  might  be  a  convenient  reference  in 
after  life.  Like  most  good  resolutions,  it  was 
easily  made  and  even  more  easily  broken.  The 
book  was  kept  with  great  regularity  for  a  short 
time,  then  irregularly  for  a  long  time,  and  ulti- 
mately abandoned  altogether,  and  then  lost  or 
destroyed. 

With  me  this  day  has  been  like  unto  all  others, 
full  of  trouble  and  vexation.  Not  with  the  persons 
and  things  of  this  world  have  I  been  troubled  and 
vexed,  but  with  myself.  I  am  harassed  out  of  my 
life  with  the  phantoms  of  my  own  imagination,  a 
morbid  sensibility  is  killing  me  inch  by  inch.  I 
must  correct  it.  But  how  am  I  to  do  so?  Close 
application  to  business  and  great  assiduity  seems 
to  make  it  worse,  and  relaxation  disqualifies  me 
for  business.  Let  time  and  chance  determine. 


James  Speed 

Louisville,  March  14,  1844. 

This  has  been  a  rainy  and  most  disagreeable 
day.  What  with  the  weather  and  with  my  indis- 
position, the  day  has  been  to  me  most  disagreeable. 

I  have  been  all  day  reading  the  papers  in  the 
case  of  C.  M.  Strader  &  Company  vs.  the  Fulton 
&  Company,  and  it  is  a  tiresome  business.  I 
would  not  mind  it  if  I  were  well,  but  sick  as  I  am 
it  is  awful.  A  circumstance,  and  a  very  little  one 
it  was,  contributed  to  annoy  me  whilst  engaged  at 
my  work.  I  read  the  papers  in  the  Master's  office; 
whilst  I  was  at  it  and  throughout  the  whole  day 
the  Master  in  Chancery  was  taking  depositions — 
the  case  of  the  Steamboat  Star  of  the  West  against 
the  Steamboat  Harkaway.  The  noise  and  bustle 
and  crowd  of  witnesses  did  not  annoy  me.  I  was 
annoyed  by  the  Master's  pronunciation  of  Star. 
He  uniformly  called  it  Stair — the  Stair  of  the  West 
was  come  over  by  him  at  least  five  hundred  times. 

Louisville,  Ky.,  March  20,  1844. 
An  equinoctial  day,  unsteady  weather.  I  have 
had  to-day  unusually  low  spirits,  and  don't  know 
how  to  account  for  it.  I  have  lately  fallen  into  a 
habit  of  thinking  too  much  of  myself  and  my 
prospects,  and  not  with  as  high  hopes  as  I  ought. 
The  man  who  has  not  high  hopes  and  great  con- 
fidence in  the  success  of  everything  he  undertakes 


A  Personality 

ought  not  to  permit  himself  to  think  a  great  deal 
of  the  future.  He  ought  to  keep  himself  busily 
occupied  about  things  which  are  transpiring  and 
with  the  past.  Different  as  are  the  forms  and 
appearances  of  men,  their  exteriors  are  not  more 
different  than  their  minds.  Some  men  are  ever 
on  the  high  road  to  an  Eldorado  and  they  are  never 
disappointed,  for  they  never  stop  or  look  back. 
Other  men  are  ever  on  the  road  to  the  Black  Hole 
of  Calcutta.  There  is  no  comparison  between 
these  men.  The  man  of  ever  bright  and  cheering 
prospects  is  always  happy.  The  man  of  cloudy 
prospect,  though  he  may  not  be  melancholy,  is  not 
happy.  Can  either  of  these  characters  be  acquired? 
Will  religion  change  a  man  so  much  to  make  him 
look  forward  with  hope  and  with  pleasure? 

Louisville,  March  26,  1844. 
I  am  really  ashamed  of  myself.  Another  apology 
is  necessary.  It  was  neglect,  not  forgetfulness. 
I  thought  of  my  resolution  and  knew  my  duty  but 
neglected  it.  How  many  secret  resolutions  of  this 
kind  do  we  disregard?  Hence  the  necessity  for  a 
profession  of  religion ;  hence  the  argument  in  favor 
of  the  confessional.  The  reproving  eye  of  society 
keeps  very  many  in  order  and  makes  them  keep  in 
the  right  path,  when  if  left  to  themselves  they  would 
go  astray.  Hence,  too,  secret  vices  are  much  more 


James  Speed 

common  than  open  ones.  All  men  are  more  or 
less  influenced  by  the  society  in  which  they  live. 
Virtues  and  vices  are  now  fashionable  and  now 
unfashionable.  Bacon  says  truly  that  there  are 
vitia  tempori  and  vitia  homonis.  The  vitia  tempori 
are  generally  open  and  undisguised,  to  be  seen  and 
known  of  all  men;  the  vitia  homonis  are  generally 
private  and  kept  as  much  in  the  dark  as  possible. 

Louisville,  March  31,  1844. 

The  ground  was  right  much  frozen  this  morning. 
The  peach  trees  being  in  full  bloom  it  has  been 
generally  predicted  that  we  will  have  few  or  no 
peaches  this  year.  I  examined  the  buds  or  blos- 
soms in  my  yard  and  could  not  see  that  they  were 
injured.  I  suppose,  however,  that  the  trees  in  my 
yard  are  much  more  protected  than  in  the  orchards 
in  the  country.  The  day  has  been  clear  and 
pleasant. 

Louisville,  April  3,  1844. 

Another  lovely  day.  Nothing  new  happened, 
and  I  believe  that  I  heard  but  little  worth  recol- 
lecting. The  forenoon  spent  in  the  circuit  court; 
in  the  afternoon  took  a  ride  with  Wm.  H.  Field, 
Esq.,  on  the  Bardstown  Road.  The  peach  trees 
in  the  country  in  full  bloom,  the  forest  trees  gener- 
ally budding.  I  did  not  find  the  grass  in  the  coun- 
try as  fine  as  I  expected  from  the  appearance  of 
the  little  patches  in  town. 


16 


A  Personality 

Louisville,  April  7,  1844. 

Yesterday,  the  sixth,  was  a  lovely  day.  I  was 
fishing  all  day.  Came  home  just  at  night  and 
neglected  to  note  anything  herein  because  I  was 
tired. 

Louisville,  April  10,  1844. 

For  some  time  past  there  has  been  a  great  deal 
of  talk  about  the  annexation  of  Texas.  I  have 
read  all  that  I  could  find  on  the  subject  and  have 
listened  to  all  that  I  could  hear.  My  mind  is  fully 
made  up  against  the  annexation  of  the  whole  of 
Texas  as  a  slave  State  or  as  a  country  out  of  which 
divers  slave  States  might  be  carved.  It  would 
produce  the  effect  of  fastening  slavery  on  Kentucky. 
It  would  open  so  profitable  a  market  for  slaves  that 
Kentucky,  instead  of  remaining  what  she  is  now — 
an  agricultural  State — would  become  a  slave-grow- 
ing State.  Slaves  would  not  merely  be  of  value  as 
workers  or  laborers,  but  would  have  value  as  a 
marketable  commodity.  Slavery  is  the  curse  of 
the  State.  I  would  willingly  adopt  any  feasible 
plan  to  be  rid  of  it. 

April  n,  1844. 

A  lovely  day  and  I  am  very  much  fatigued, 
having  spent  the  day  fishing. 

Louisville,  April  14,  1844. 

The  weather  has  been  very  hot  for  a  day  or  two 
past.  On  Friday  the  dogwood  was  partially  in 


James  Speed 

bloom,  to-day  in  full  bloom.  I  hear  it  generally 
said  that  the  spring  is  uncommonly  early.  For 
myself  I  can  not  recollect  from  year  to  year,  and 
I  am  doubtful  of  the  memory  of  others  about  the 
matter. 


18 


A  Personality 


CHAPTER  III. 

1844—1849 

IN  1847  James  Speed  went  to  Frankfort  to 
represent  the  city  of  Louisville  in  the  Lower 
House,  and  during  his  stay  in  the  capital  of  the 
State  he  wrote  to  his  mother  each  Sunday. 
This  custom  of  writing  his  mother  a  letter  each 
Sunday  grew  quite  naturally  out  of  a  habit 
which  had  become  fixed  with  him  and  his 
brothers  who  lived  in  Louisville.  Each  Sunday 
morning  the  year  around,  before  going  to  church, 
they  would  meet  for  an  hour  or  two  with  their 
mother  at  her  home  on  the  southwest  corner  of 
Eighth  and  Walnut  streets,  to  have  a  cozy 
family  chat.  This  peculiar  and  beautiful  habit 
even  descended  to  her  grandsons  and  one  or  two 
of  her  great  grandsons,  who  came  regularly  to  pay 
their  respects  the  beginning  of  each  week.  Of 

19 


James  Speed 

these  letters  written  at  that  time  only  a  few  are 
left  of  the  year  1848,  and  extracts  are  here 
given  from  three  of  them. 

Frankfort,  January  9,  1848. 
Dear  Mother: 

Those  who  are  of  the  impression  that  the  office 
of  Representative  from  Louisville  is  a  sinecure  are 
mistaken.  It  is  an  arduous  trust,  if  faithfully 
discharged.  You  would  marvel  to  see  the  budget 
of  matter  before  me.  Most  of  it  very  frivolous, 
and  a  great  deal  very  foolish,  which  would  seem  to 
render  the  labor  light.  True,  it  makes  it  light, 
but  adds  to  the  vexation — the  more  frivolous  or 
foolish  a  thing  may  be,  the  greater  is  the  difficulty 
in  bearing  yourself  towards  the  applicant  so  as  not 
to  give  offense.  Good  tempered  as  I  am,  it  has 
been  hard  for  me  to  treat  with  becoming  respect 
some  foolish  applications  that  I  knew  to  be  made 
in  serious  earnest,  and  with  sanguine  hopes  of 
success.  The  duties  imposed  on  me  are  arduous. 
I  am  on  two  of  the  committees  to  which  are  referred 
the  most  important  and  laborious  duties. 

....  I  have  no  time  upon  my  hands, 
less  leisure  than  when  at  home.  My  time  is  so 
occupied  that  I  have  but  little  opportunity  of 
making  the  acquaintance  of  my  brother  members, 
beyond  such  as  I  come  in  contact  with  in  the  way 


20 


A  Personality 

of  business.  As  I  have  no  time  for  it,  I  am  not 
likely  to  engage  in  any  of  the  many  dissipations  in 
vogue  here. 

Frankfort,  January  30,  1848. 
Dear  Mother: 

You  have  transmitted  to  me  one  point  of 
character,  that  I  find  now  exceedingly  disagreeable. 
It  is  a  fondness  for  home  and  familiar  faces.  The 
excitement  of  business  carries  me  through  the  days 
of  the  week  tolerably  well,  but  when  night  comes, 
and  especially  the  Sunday,  my  thoughts  turn  to 
other  scenes  and  bring  up  other  faces  than  those 
within  my  view.  Whether  lawyer  or  legislator,  I 
am  still  a  man,  and  love  as  a  man  to  cherish  and 
cultivate  the  affections  which  are  native,  and  have 
grown  and  strengthened  with  passing  time. 

I  am  really  tired  of  this  place  and  the  life  I  lead. 
The  sooner  we  adjourn  and  go  home  the  better  for 
me  and  for  the  country.  Upon  the  whole,  however, 
I  do  not  regret  having  come  here.  I  have  read  with 
interest,  and  not  without  profit,  another  and  im- 
portant chapter  on  the  human  character.  Like  all 
things  in  this  world,  the  chapter  is  mixed  with  good 
and  ill. 

Frankfort,  February  20,  1848. 
Dear  Mother: 

.  .  .  .  For  three  days  past  we  have  had 
clouds,  heavy  rain,  and  thunder — to-day  has  been 


21 


James  Speed 

a  beautiful  one.  The  man  who  would  not,  on  such 
a  day,  gratefully  thank  the  Giver  of  all  things  for 
past  favors,  and  earnestly  ask  a  continuance  of 
them,  is  past  my  comprehension. 

In  the  extracts  from  James  Speed's  diary 
given  in  the  preceding  chapter,  a  clear  and 
definite  conception  of  his  attitude  toward  slavery 
in  Kentucky  when  it  was  proposed  to  annex  the 
State  of  Texas  either  as  a  slave  State  or  a  group 
of  slave  States,  can  be  had.  In  the  year  '49 
when  the  repeal  of  the  slave  law  of  '33  was  under 
consideration  at  Frankfort,  James  Speed  wrote 
a  series  of  articles  for  the  Louisville  Courier. 
That  some  clippings  from  these  old  papers  may 
be  more  easily  understood,  a  couple  of  incidents 
of  the  farm  life  at  "Farmington"  in  the  thirties 
must  be  given,  for  every  man  writes  from  the 
experience  of  his  whole  life. 

John  Speed  had  always  believed  firmly  that 
the  negro  would  be  emancipated  in  his  native 
State.  Having  this  feeling  he  naturally  gave 
his  negroes  every  opportunity  to  develop  as 


22 


A  Personality 

fully  as  possible  under  the  restrictions  which 
their  servitude  necessarily  imposed. 

John  Speed's  position  in  regard  to  slavery 
is  brought  out  clearly  and  forcibly  by  the 
Reverend  James  Freeman  Clark,  the  eminent 
Unitarian  minister  of  Boston,  Massachusetts, 
in  his  autobiography.  During  the  time  that 
Mr.  Clark  was  pastor  of  the  Unitarian  Church 
in  Louisville,  Kentucky,  he  was  a  frequent 
visitor  at  "Farmington,"  which  was  only  five 
miles  from  the  town,  and  he  became  very  fond 
of  the  old  gentleman.  The  following  is  taken 
from  Mr.  Clark's  book: 

Judge  Speed  was  a  slaveholder,  but  he  did  not 
believe  in  slavery.  He  thought  it  wrong  in  itself 
and  injurious  to  the  State,  and  expected,  like  most 
intelligent  Kentuckians  at  that  time,  that  Kentucky 
would  before  long  emancipate  its  slaves.  Mean- 
time he  held  them  as  a  trust,  and  did  everything  he 
could  to  make  them  comfortable.  If  one  of  his 
slaves  was  discontented  and  ran  away,  which 
rarely  happened,  he  did  not  try  to  bring  him  back. 
A  young  man  from  the  North  once  said  to  him, 

23 


James  Speed 

"Judge,  I  do  not  see  but  the  slaves  are  as  happy  as 
our  laboring  classes  at  the  North."  "Well,"  said 
the  Judge,  "I  do  the  best  I  can  to  make  my  slaves 
comfortable,  but  I  tell  you,  sir,  you  can  not  make  a 
slave  happy,  do  what  you  will.  God  Almighty 
never  made  a  man  to  be  a  slave,  and  he  can  not 
be  happy  while  he  is  a  slave."  "But,"  continued 
the  Boston  visitor,  "what  can  be  done  about  it, 
sir?  They  could  not  take  care  of  themselves  if  set 
free."  "I  think  I  could  show  you  three  men  on  my 
plantation,"  replied  Judge  Speed,  "who  might  go 
to  the  Kentucky  Legislature.  I  am  inclined  to 
believe  they  would  be  as  good  legislators  as  the 
average  men  there  now." 

Evidently  one  of  the  three  negroes  referred  to 
in  Mr.  Clark's  story  was  a  superb  negro  called 
Morocco.  Many  stories  concerning  this  quiet, 
strong  personality,  which  grew  up  under  his 
master's  kindly  influence,  have  been  told  and  retold 
in  the  family.  Morocco  was  a  very  valuable  piece 
of  property,  as  he  often  transacted  important 
business  in  the  city  for  his  owner.  If  he  had  had 
a  family  of  children  they  would  have  been  extremely 
valuable;  but  he  never  married.  Whenever  he 
was  teased  about  being  a  woman-hater  and  an  old 
bachelor,  he  would  draw  himself  up  to  his  full 
height  and  say: 


A  Personality 

"I'm  a  slave  an'  I  can't  help  it;  but  I  can  an' 
I  will  help  bein'  the  father  of  any  slaves." 

As  Liberia  had  been  opened  to  the  colonization 
of  negroes  in  1820,  John  Speed  concluded  that  he 
would  free  Morocco  and  furnish  him  with  funds 
to  make  the  long  trip.  This  occurred  about  1833 
when  James  Speed  had  just  finished  his  studies 
and  was  in  a  law  office  in  Louisville.  It  was 
arranged  for  the  negro  to  go  into  town  so  that  he 
might  talk  the  matter  over  at  length  with  his 
young  master,  who  had  posted  himself  on  the 
country  and  its  many  possibilities.  After  Morocco 
had  listened  patiently  to  the  careful  explanation  of 
the  plans  made  for  him,  he  asked: 

"Marse  James,  what  do  you  think  about  my 
goin'?" 

"Why,  with  your  sense  and  ability,  Morocco, 
you  might  become  the  president  of  the  country." 

For  a  moment  the  negro  was  puzzled,  then  he 
asked  cautiously,  "Haven't  they  got  a  white  presi- 
dent in  that  country?" 

"No,  all  of  the  officials  are  negroes." 

Morocco  shook  his  head  sadly  and  answered, 
"I  reckon  I'll  stay  here  an'  be  a  slave,  Marse 
James." 

"Why?" 

"It's  this  way,  if  Liberia  was  worth  livin'  in 
there'd  be  lots  and  lots  of  white  folks  there,  an' 


James  Speed 

they'd  have  a  white  president.  I  ain't  goin'  to  any 
country  that  ain't  good  enough  for  white  folks  to 
live  in." 

The  following  clippings  have  been  care- 
fully selected  from  three  long  articles  which 
appeared  in  the  Louisville  Courier,  1849,  from 
James  Speed's  pen,  in  answer  to  other  articles 
written  by  one  who  signed  himself  "Observer": 

But  my  object  is  not  and  never  was  to  attack 
any  man  or  set  of  men.  When  my  first  article  was 
written,  the  modification  of  the  law  of  1833  had 
passed  the  Lower  House  of  the  General  Assembly 
only.  Since  then  it  has  passed  the  Senate,  and 
there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  the  Governor  will 
not  approve  it.  So  the  law  of  1833  may  be  now 
regarded  as  virtually  repealed.  The  modification 
of  that  law  is,  as  I  believe,  fairly  stated  by  Observer, 
and  in  my  estimation,  such  a  modification  is  a  repeal. 

The  great  and  leading  feature  of  the  law  of  1833 
was  that  it  prohibited  citizens  of  Kentucky  from 
buying  and  importing  into  this  State  slaves  for  any 
purpose.  That  great  and  leading  feature  of  the 
law  is  repealed,  and  so,  I  think,  the  remainder  is 
not  worth  having — the  whole  law  had  as  well  been 
swept  from  the  statute  book. 

26 


A  Personality 

The  reasons  for  ridding  this  State  of  slavery  and 
permanently  separating  the  white  and  black  races 
by  a  process  so  gradual  as  to  do  no  injury  to  the 
white  man  and  good  to  the  negro  are  so  many, 
clear  and  cognent,  that  I  would  have  to  lose  all 
faith  in  truth,  and  forget  that  man  is  prone  to 
pursue  his  own  happiness,  before  I  can  believe 
in  the  prediction  of  the  perpetuation  of  slavery  in 
Kentucky.  Observer  says  that  his  desire  was,  and 
is,  that  slavery  should  remain  undisturbed.  This 
desire  must  originate  from  a  belief  that  it  is  a 
blessing  and  should  be  perpetuated,  or  that  it  is 
an  evil  for  which  he  has  no  remedy.  I  would  like 
to  know  upon  which  horn  of  this  dilemma  he  hangs. 
Either  is  a  fair  subject  for  debate.  Speeches  are 
made,  books  are  written,  and  newspapers  are  pub- 
lished to  establish  truth  and  combat  and  expose 
errors  and  wrong.  In  this  reading  and  thinking 
age  the  world  is  not  content  with  the  mere  declara- 
tion that  a  writer  desires  slavery  to  remain  undis- 
turbed. The  why  and  the  wherefore  are  matters 
of  consequence.  If  slavery  be  a  blessing,  show  and 
prove  it;  if  an  evil,  admit  it  to  be  your  duty  to 
search  a  remedy.  Do  not  fold  your  hands  in  idleness, 
or  carp  at  those  who  are  doing  without  your  aid, 
the  work  in  which  you  should  give  them  help. 

Every  one  in  the  State  must  feel  that  he  lives 
by  the  "sweat  of  his  brow."  If  he  works  not  with 

27 


James  Speed 

his  hands,  he  does  with  his  head;  society  has  an 
organization  so  complex  that  there  is  a  demand 
for  all  kinds  of  work  that  result  in  good  to  the 
individual  and  the  community.  Labor  is  to  the 
individual  and  society  what  salt  and  motion  are 
said  to  be  to  the  great  deep — they  prevent  stagna- 
tion and  putrescence.  It  is  right,  it  is  necessary 
that  labor  should  be  respected  and  encouraged. 
Touch  and  affect  it  injuriously,  and  you  injure  the 
working  man,  the  employer,  and  society  in  all 
their  ramifications.  Let  us  first  glance  at  the 
effect  produced  by  slave  labor  on  the  working  man, 
I  mean,  all  who  from  choice  or  necessity  do  that 
which  is,  or  may  be  done  by  slaves. 

It  is  said  and  sometimes  gravely  written  that 
our  slaves  are  only  kept  to  do  menial  offices. 
These  words  menial  offices  seem  to  constitute  a 
clap-trap,  undefinable  phrase.  Thosr  who  use  it 
show  more  clearly  than  any  argument  I  can  adduce 
that  the  institution  of  slavery  has  produced  its 
worst  effects  upon  their  minds.  Labor,  honorable 
effort,  and  honest  industry  are  degraded  in  their 
eyes.  What  are  menial  services?  Is  it  to  curry 
a  horse,  to  bridle  or  feed  one?  Is  it  to  drive  a 
wagon,  stage,  carriage,  hack,  or  dray,  to  follow 
the  plow,  handle  an  axe,  or  make  a  fire,  or  touch  a 
tool  or  implement  of  any  kind?  Is  the  woman  who 
sweeps  up  the  room,  or  makes  the  bed,  or  cooks,  or 

28 


A  Personality 

washes  or  makes  and  mends  the  clothes  of  her 
husband  and  family  guilty  of  the  sin  of  doing 
menial  offices?  And  does  she  thus  become  un- 
worthy? If  these  things,  taken  individually,  are 
not  degrading,  in  what  combination  are  they  so? 
They  are  only  so  because  of  their  combination  or 
connection  with  slavery.  Slavery  thus  robs  labor 
of  its  dignity  and  true  worth.  The  proud  spirit 
of  a  freeman  will  not  brook  being  linked  with  a 
degraded  class;  he  will  fly  from  the  home  of  his 
fathers  and  seek  a  settlement  in  some  community 
where  his  labor,  his  only  reliance  for  a  livelihood, 
will  be  respected,  and  where  degradation  will  not 
attach  to  him  or  his  family,  because  he  has  to  do 
all  sorts  of  work  that  may  be  necessary  for  his 
advancement  in  life.  Any  law  that  will  admit  a 
further  influx  of  slaves  will  contribute  to  banish 
much  of  our  native  talent  and  enterprise.  It  is 
idle  to  say  that  those  who  go  are  acting  upon  false 
pride.  As  long  as  negroes  are  their  co-workers  and 
rivals  for  distinction  they  will  feel  degraded.  Men 
live  not  for  money  only.  Those  of  the  lowest 
stations  in  life,  as  well  as  the  highest,  like  to  possess 
and  to  exercise  the  blessings  that  flow  from  associa- 
tion and  intercourse  with  their  fellow-man.  The 
law  of  1833  operated  as  a  kind  of  protection  to  free 
labor.  The  white  man  was  secure  against  the  further 
competition  and  consequent  degradation  from  an 
increase  of  the  number  of  slaves  in  Kentucky. 

ag 


James  Speed 
CHAPTER  IV. 

1849—1855 

IN  allowing  the  subject  of  this  sketch  to  tell 
the  major  portion  of  his  own  story,  it  is  necessary 
to  use  some  fragments  of  other  letters  sent  to 
his  mother  in  '52,  and  a  letter  written  in  '55  to 
his  brother  Philip,  and  another  to  Mr.  Thompson, 
of  Shepherdsville,  Kentucky,  written  the  same 
year. 

Although  James  Speed  lived  all  of  his  early 
life  in  the  out-of-doors,  hunting  and  fishing  and 
dreaming,  still  there  were  periods  when  his 
health  seemed  to  break  under  the  stress  of  heavy 
work  and  he  was  forced  to  leave  home  for 
short  periods.  It  is  very  probable  that  when 
these  attacks  of  low  vitality  were  coming  upon 
him  he  suffered  most  from  depression.  Strange 
as  it  may  seem,  however,  as  he  grew  older  these 
despondent  periods  grew  wider  apart  and  eventu- 

30 


A  Personality 

ally  they  disappeared  almost  entirely.  During 
one  of  these  journeys  to  the  East  to  recuperate, 
he  sent  his  mother  a  series  of  letters  which  had 
nothing  in  them  of  political  significance,  but 
merely  recorded  his  observations  of  men,  women, 
and  things  as  he  traveled  from  place  to  place. 
They  at  least  give  some  insight  into  his  lifelong 
habit  of  observation  and  his  ideas  of  what  con- 
stituted "the  mad  rush"  of  the  East  as  early 
as  in  '52. 

Saratoga,  July  18,  1852. 
My  Dear  Mother: 

.  .  .  The  crowd  here  is  very  great.  To  me 
they  look  like  upstarts.  They  have  left  all  their 
good  sense  at  home,  and  brought  nothing  with 
them  but  cash  and  clothes. 

I  am  astonished  to  see  so  many  old  men  and 
women,  from  their  manners  and  dress  I  should  say 
that  they  were  widowers  and  widows,  or  it  may  be 
that  they  have  brought  to  this  place  "where  men 
do  most  congregate,"  a  commodity  of  ugly  daugh- 
ters. I  never  saw  so  many  women  together  in  my 
life,  and  their  number  is  not  as  remarkable  as  their 
ugliness.  They  may  be  notable  wives  and  affec- 


James  Speed 

donate  daughters,  but  certainly  they  are  not  lovely 
women. 

I  am  greatly  pleased  with  the  general  appear- 
ance of  the  country.  There  is  a  general  air  of 
thrift,  of  comfort,  of  freshness  and  youthful  vigor 
there  that  surprises  me.  Nothing  looks  old. 
Everything  has  an  air  of  neatness  and  comfort. 
Whilst  we  of  the  South  are  prating  about  luxury, 
they  of  the  North  are  practicing  it.  I  have  seen 
nothing  but  their  hotels;  they  surpass  us  in  them 
very  far. 

To-morrow  morning  I  go  to  Boston.  I  do  not 
know  how  or  when  I  will  go  from  there. 

Boston,  July  25,  1852. 
My  Dear  Mother: 

The  morning  here  is  pleasant  in  temperature 
and  pleasanter  in  appearance.  The  Sabbath-like 
quiet  and  the  sobered,  staid  demeanor  in  contrast 
with  the  fuss  and  bustle  of  yesterday  is  charming. 
They  are  all  clean  dressed  and  happy  looking. 
Religious  observances  here,  as  I  thus  far  see  them, 
are  ordered  according  to  my  notion.  The  Sabbath 
is  a  day  of  rest — not  a  day  of  self-torture  and  spiritual 
martyrdom.  I  will,  however,  see  more  of  them 
before  I  make  up  my  mind. 

I  have  seen  a  great  deal  to  interest  me — nothing 
that  has  struck  me  as  much  as  the  jail  and  hospital. 
The  beholder  in  examining  them  is  assured  "that 

32 


A  Personality 

there  is  a  luxury  in  doing  good."  Bunker  Hill 
Monument  tells  of  the  great  dead ;  the  hospital  and 
jail  are  built  for  the  future.  Of  the  two,  I  think  the 
jail  the  most  wonderful.  I  was  not  prepared  to 
see  such  a  house — strong  as  stone  and  iron  can 
make  it,  yet  beautiful  as  a  fairy  castle;  safe  as  a 
vault  and  yet  it  can  be  made  as  airy  as  a  summer- 
house.  All  things  ordered  in  reference  to  reform, 
not  punishment.  The  persons  in  charge,  educated 
gentlemen. 

Indeed,  Mother,  these  Yankees  are  a  wonderful 
people. 

Newport,  August  i,  1852. 
My  Dear  Mother: 

'? '   .     .     .    As  you  will  see  from  this  letter,  I 
am  at  Newport,  and  in  the  Ocean  House. 

To  the  man  of  cash  and  passion  for  display  this 
is  Elysium.  It  has  its  charms,  too,  for  the  quiet 
observer.  The  eye  is  constantly  caught  by  new 
faces,  new  dresses,  and  new  gaits.  Here  or  else- 
where in  Yankee-land,  I  have  been  greatly  surprised 
to  find  the  men  of  much  better  appearance  than 
the  women.  This  is  the  general  rule;  of  course  it 
has  very  marked  exceptions.  Some  of  the  genus 
homo  here  are  half  monkey  in  dress,  form,  and  gait. 

I  learn  with  surprise  and  sorrow  that  many  of 
the  dashing  belles  and  flirts  of  the  season  are  wives 
and  mothers,  whose  husbands  and  children  are  at 
home.  Such  women  are  a  disgrace  to  their  sex. 

33 


James  Speed 

Newport,  August  8,  1852. 
My  Dear  Mother: 

Again  I  pay  my  respects  to  you  from  Newport. 
Here  it  is  a  bright,  bracing,  beautiful  morning;  I 
hope  that  you  have  such  a  one,  and  the  health  and 
cheerfulness  to  enjoy  it. 

The  past  week  has  been  checkered  with  me. 
The  atmosphere,  bathing,  weather,  and  company 
have  all  been  agreeable;  but  I  am  from  home, 
distant  from  wife,  children,  and  friends,  and 
though  not  given  to  gloomy  forebodings,  my  mind 
will,  in  the  still  watches  of  night  or  even  in  the 
bustle  and  throng  of  the  day,  feel  curiously  anxious 
as  to  how  matters  stand  at  home.  I  am  too  old 
or  have  too  many  of  the  actual  cares  and  responsi- 
bilities of  life  to  enter  so  heartily  into  the  frivolous 
amusements  of  the  places  as  to  forget  those  behind 
me,  or  to  be  unmindful  of  the  future. 

New  York,  August  7,  1853. 
My  Dear  Mother: 

.  .  .  .  New  York  is  the  place  in  which  the 
observances  of  the  Sabbath  can  be  appreciated 
above  all  things.  In  church  and  in  church  only, 
can  you  be  still  for  a  little  while;  there  for  a  brief 
season  you  hear  not  the  fuss  and  clatter  and  see 
not  the  rush  and  whirl  of  this  restless  world.  Here 
it  would  seem  that  the  still,  small  voice  of  God, 
for  which  the  troubled  spirit  so  eagerly  listens, 

34 


A  Personality 

can  only  be  heard  in  the  holy  silence  of  the  church. 
Indeed,  I  felt  that  it  was  good  to  be  there. 

I  am  sick  of  New  York.  We  would  have  gone 
to  Long  Branch  yesterday,  but  for  the  storm. 
To-morrow  I  will  go  there  or  to  Philadelphia.  I 
don't  think  I  will  stay  much  longer;  I  must  confess 
to  a  slight  touch  of  homesickness.  Should  the 
malady  grow  much  worse  it  will  hurry  me  off  to 
the  other  side  of  the  mountains.  I  have  not  seen, 
nor  can  I  hear  of  Lucy's  whereabouts. 

In  the  following  letter  written  to  his  brother 
Philip  in  March,  1855,  James  Speed  shows  con- 
clusively that  although  he  had  been  a  member 
of  the  Legislature,  and  had  always  been  intensely 
interested  in  politics,  he  had  absolutely  nothing 
in  his  makeup  of  the  politician  pure  and  simple. 
It  should  be  remembered  in  reading  this  letter 
that  the  Kansas-Nebraska  controversy  was  still 
agitating  the  minds  of  the  people.  This  letter 
shows  very  clearly  his  feelings  concerning  the 
Know  Nothing  Party,  a  party  made  up  very 
largely  of  Whigs,  a  party  that  was  non-committal 
concerning  all  questions  of  slavery,  a  party  that 


35 


James  Speed 

was  also  evasive  to  all  questions  concerning  its 
platform  or  its  ultimate  purposes,  a  party  that 
was  a  secret,  oath-bound  organization,  which 
opposed  the  nomination  for  office  of  any  foreign- 
born  citizens,  and  was  antagonistic  to  the 
Catholic  Church. 

That  James  Speed  in  March,  1855,  saw 
clearly  what  would  happen  in  the  near  future, 
is  amply  borne  out  in  his  description  of  election 
day,  which  was  written  to  a  friend  and  fellow- 
lawyer,  William  R.  Thompson,  Esquire,  of 
Shepherdsville,  Kentucky. 


Louisville,  March  26,  1855. 
Dear  Philip: 

"Semper  Eadem" 

Properly  understood,  the  above  is  and  ever  will 
be  my  motto.  As  I  understand  it,  it  means  true 
and  an  unfaltering  allegiance  to  honesty  and  fair 
dealing.  Openness,  candor,  boldness,  and  faith  in 
the  right  are  the  constant  attendants  and  firm 
supporters  of  honesty.  When  these  concomitants 
are  not,  I  am  apt  to  suspect  that  there  is  also 
honesty  wanting.  These  notions  grew  in  use  from 

36 


A  Personality 

or  with  Whiggery — I  have  fondly  believed  that 
they  were  the  legitimate  and  natural  fruit  of  Whig 
seed. 

My  Whiggery  had  ever  taught  me  to  advocate 
what  I  believe  to  be  right,  and  further,  that  it  was 
as  much  my  duty  to  do  it  openly  and  without  fear 
as  to  do  it  at  all.  Besides,  I  cherish  as  my  life, 
religious  liberty.  The  right  to  worship  Almighty 
God  according  to  the  dictates  of  my  conscience  is 
one  that  I  can  surrender  only  with  my  life.  I 
respect  the  right  in  others  as  much  as  I  demand  the 
exercise  of  the  right  in  my  person. 

The  Know  Nothings  seem  to  me  to  shirk,  to 
keep  in  the  dark.  They  have  no  avowed  principles, 
and  no  declared  candidates. 

It  may  be  that  I  would  advocate  or  support 
what  they  want,  but  before  I  do  I  must  know  them 
as  they  know  me.  I  will  go  for  a  man  whose  meas- 
ures I  oppose,  but  who  declares  them  with  an  open- 
ness that  is  becoming,  rather  than  one  who  makes 
no  declaration  of  principles.  In  the  last  I  may  be 
cheated,  in  the  first  I  can  not,  as  I  know  the  extent 
of  his  error. 

No  one  can  pretend  that  Mr.  Clay  ever  was  or 
could  be  a  Know  Nothing.  Daring,  gallant,  open 
to  a  fault,  by  his  very  nature  incapable  of  conceal- 
ment— yet,  strange  to  say,  that  party  which  he 
led  so  long,  composed  mainly  of  personal  admirers, 
it  is  said  have  formed  a  secret  junto  or  clique  to 

37 


James  Speed 

accomplish  their  wishes.  Let  them  think  of  him 
and  blush ;  let  them  think  of  him  and  drink  in  some 
of  his  courage  and  frankness. 

Indeed,  my  motto  is  "Semper  eadem,"  always 
honest,  always  free  from  concealment,  always 
ready  to  say  who  I  am,  what  I  am  for,  what  I  am 
against,  whom  I  am  for,  and  whom  I  am  against. 
Much  as  I  dislike  slavery,  much  as  I  desire  to  see 
my  much  loved  native  State  freed  from  the  curse 
of  slavery,  I  would  not  aid  in  organizing  a  secret 
party  to  effect  that  object.  In  such  a  party  I  see 
more  danger  than  in  slavery — such  a  party  is 
equally  powerful  for  ill  as  for  good. 

Who  or  what  is  safe  in  the  hands  of  such  a 
party?  What  principle  of  government  is  safe  with 
such  a  party? 

I  have  not  ceased  to  be  a  Whig — "Semper 
eadem.11  My  Whiggery  makes  me  anti-Know 
Nothing.  All  the  noble  traits  of  character  that 
so  marked  and  distinguished  its  great  leader  forbid 
my  association  with  such  a  party. 

So  much  in  great  haste;  come  and  see  me — come 
and  dine — I  want  to  talk  with  you. 

Louisville,  September  8,  1855. 
Wm.  R.  Thompson,  Esq., 

Shepherdsville,  Ky. 
Dear  Sir: 

You  ask  me  to  state  what  I  saw  on  the  fourth 

38 


A  Personality 

day  of  August  last,  the  day  of  the  election.  I  do 
so  cheerfully. 

I  went  to  vote  before  my  breakfast  about  six 
o'clock.  I  found  a  crowd  around  the  polls  and 
great  difficulty  in  getting  in.  There  was  a  good 
deal  of  noise  and  much  hollowing  for  Marshall. 

I  returned  from  my  breakfast  about  eight 
o'clock  and  went  directly  into  the  courtroom  when 
the  votes  were  taken.  The  crowd,  and  a  large  and 
noisy  one,  was  in  the  passage. 

I  remained  in  the  room  till  about  half  past  nine 
or  ten  o'clock  a.  m.  Whilst  there  I  heard  the  noise 
of  several  fights  in  the  passage  and  saw  from  the 
window  Irishmen  and  Germans  beaten  and  chased 
from  the  courthouse  yard. 

When  I  came  from  the  courtroom  or  the  room 
in  which  the  votes  were  taken  into  the  passage,  the 
crowd  which  had  been  in  the  passage  had  chased 
some  foreigners  into  the  yard  east  of  the  courthouse. 
I  went  to  the  east  door  of  the  courthouse  and  saw 
the  crowd  running  down  Sixth  Street.  I  went  back 
through  the  courthouse  and  out  of  the  front  door 
to  my  office  in  front  of  the  courthouse.  From  my 
office  I  saw  many  men,  Irish  and  German,  beaten 
in  the  courthouse  yard  before  dinner.  It  was  not 
fighting  man  to  man,  but  as  many  as  could  would 
fall  upon  a  single  Irish  or  German  and  beat  him 
with  sticks  or  short  clubs — not  walking  canes,  but 
short  clubs.  I  advised  all  foreigners  I  saw  after  I 

39 


James  Speed 

came  out  of  the  courthouse  and  before  I  went  to 
my  dinner  not  to  go  near  the  courthouse.  From 
the  time  I  came  out  of  the  courthouse  till  dinner 
time  the  courthouse  yard  was  occupied  by  a  number 
of  men  and  boys  armed  with  short  clubs,  shouting, 
"Hurrah  for  Marshall!  hurrah  for  Sam."  They 
wore  yellow  tickets  in  their  hats  or  on  their  breasts. 

Soon  after  I  returned  from  dinner,  about  half 
past  two  o'clock  p.  m.,  I  saw  a  number  of  boys  and 
men  coming  out  of  the  courthouse  armed  with 
muskets  and  a  great  many  armed  with  clubs.  I 
inquired  of  Judge  Bodley  what  it  meant;  he  replied 
that  the  Germans,  two  hundred  strong  and  armed 
with  double-barrel  shotguns,  had  taken  possession 
of  the  polls  in  the  first  ward.  I  told  him  that  it 
was  not  so  and  could  not  be  so.  He  replied  with 
warmth,  showing  that  he  believed  it  to  be  true. 

I  was  about  my  office  till  after  five  o'clock. 
Before  I  left  the  office  or  the  neighborhood,  I  saw 
many  Irishmen  carried  to  jail  all  covered  with 
blood. 

Near  five  o'clock  and  before  I  left  the  office,  an 
infuriated  crowd  wearing  the  yellow  ticket  came 
yelling  down  Jefferson  Street,  guarding  an  Irishman 
to  jail,  who  was  all  covered  with  blood  and  so  weak 
that  he  had  to  be  supported  to  walk.  A  man  with 
the  same  yellow  ticket  badge  followed  just  after 
him  with  an  iron  pitchfork.  Betwixt  the  front 
gate  of  the  courthouse  yard  and  Sixth  Street,  the 

40 


A  Personality 

crowd  or  guard  took  after  a  little  German  who 
was  going  up  Jefferson  Street.  They  raised  the 
shout,  "move  him."  He  ran  pursued  by  the 
crowd.  He  was  stricken  many  times  before  he 
got  to  the  courthouse  yard  gate.  Soon  after  he 
got  into  the  yard  he  was  knocked  down  and  most 
unmercifully  beaten.  To  escape  the  blows  he 
crawled  under  the  Know  Nothing  stand,  and  from 
where  I  stood  I  thought  the  man  with  the  iron 
fork  stabbed  him  when  under  there.  In  this  I  am 
told  I  was  mistaken.  They  dragged  him  from 
under  the  stand  more  dead  than  alive  and  carried 
him  to  jail  on  their  shoulders,  the  crowd  yelling 
to  make  the  damned  rascal  walk.  I  still  think 
that  the  man  with  the  pitchfork  struck  the  man 
when  down. 

I  know  that  the  courthouse  and  courthouse 
yard  was  in  the  possession  and  under  the  control  of 
Know  Nothing  bullies  from  nine  o'clock  till  night 
or  until  the  foreigners  were  so  frightened  that  they 
would  not  come  about  there. 

The  foreigners  came  to  the  courthouse  in  the 
morning,  not  in  crowds,  but  singly  and  without 
clubs  or  arms  of  any  kind.  I  saw  no  foreigner 
misbehave  or  do  or  say  an  insolent  thing.  The 
Know  Nothings  had  clubs  and  yelled  incessantly. 

About  dinner  time  I  saw  a  small  German 
knocked  from  the  front  steps  or  from  the  upper 
platform  to  the  bottom.  I  thought  that  the  fall 

41 


James  Speed 

would  kill  him.  They  ran  down,  beat  him  with 
clubs  as  he  got  up,  and  as  he  ran  pelted  him  with 
stones.  A  man  met  him  and  knocked  him  down. 
Captain  Reauseau  got  up  where  they  were  and 
saved  him. 

When  I  was  in  the  courtroom  I  heard  that  the 
Honorable  Will  P.  Thomasson  was  struck  .when 
attempting  to  save  an  Irishman.  I  saw  Mr. 
Thomasson  soon  after  and  saw  the  wound  or  bruise 
on  his  cheek.  He  told  me  that  he  had  been  struck 
for  trying  to  keep  the  mob  off  of  an  Irishman  they 
were  pursuing. 

I  am,  sir,  most  respectfully, 

Your  obt.  servt.  and  friend, 

JAMES  SPEED. 


A  Personality 
CHAPTER  V. 

1861—1865 

AT  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  James 
Speed's  life  became  a  strenuous  one.  He  was 
made  the  mustering  officer  for  the  State  of 
Kentucky,  and  the  soldiers  who  answered  the 
first  calls  for  volunteers  were  mustered  into  the 
United  States  army  by  him.  During  this  early 
part  of  the  war  when  the  fate  of  his  native 
State  hung  for  a  long  time  in  the  balance,  he  and 
his  brothers  were  continually  busy.  He,  his 
brothers,  and  his  sisters  had  all  grown  up  in  an 
abolition  atmosphere,  and  he  himself  was  so 
opposed  to  slavery  that  he  never  owned  a  slave. 
Perhaps  this  last  statement  is  a  little  extreme, 
as  he  did  happen  to  own  one  slave  for  a  very 
short  time.  It  seems  that  one  day  while  passing 
the  Courthouse  he  saw  a  number  of  negroes 
being  sold  at  auction.  When  he  paused  he 

43 


James  Speed 

discovered  a  half-grown  negro  girl  crying  bit- 
terly. Learning  that  she  was  to  be  sold  because 
of  the  failure  of  her  owner  and  that  there  was 
grave  danger  of  her  being  taken  South  and  away 
from  her  whole  family,  he  bought  her.  She  was 
frail  at^the  time  and  died  not  very  much  later  of 
tuberculosis.  1 1  was  the  only  slave  he  ever  owned . 

In  1861  he  again  went  to  Frankfort,  Ken- 
tucky, this  time  to  represent  his  own  district 
in  the  State  Senate.  It  was  at  this  time  that 
the  General  Government  proposed  to  pay  for 
the  slaves  held  in  Kentucky,  and  he  was  the 
only  member  of  the  Senate  to  support  the  meas- 
ure. In  one  of  his  speeches  at  that  time  he 
took  the  ground  that  all  the  effects  of  slavery 
must  be  evil,  and  that  it  was  best  to  abolish  it 
as  soon  and  as  easily  as  possible. 

Among  the  papers  in  the  family  there  is 
only  one  written  by  James  Speed  in  '61,  imme- 
diately" after  his  election  to  the  State  Senate,  and 
soon  after  he  had  resigned  his  position  as  Com- 

44 


A  Personality 

mander  of  the  Louisville  Home  Guard,  which 
took  place  July  2,  1861.  A  portion  of  the  letter 
which  follows  gives  an  idea  of  the  troubles  which 
men  who  were  in  the  thick  of  the  fight  were 
subjected  to. 

Louisville,  September  17,  1861. 
L.  W.  Andrews,  Esq., 

Flemingsburg,  Ky. 
Dear  Sir: 

Your  letter  of  the  fifteenth  is  just  at  hand;  like 
you,  I  have  been  annoyed  beyond  measure  at  the 
swindling  I  see  going  along.  It  is  really  distressing 
to  see  how  many  men  I  see  in  our  midst  who  are 
trying  to  make  money  out  of  our  great  trouble. 
Such  a  crisis  as  this  gives  to  us  a  clear  and  deep 
insight  into  human  nature  and  poor  humanity 
suffers  from  the  view. 

I  assure  you,  sir,  that  I  had  hardly  finished 
reading  your  letter  before  I  was  beset  by  three  men 
desiring  me  to  indorse  their  papers  that  they  might 
get  contracts,  and  have  been  several  times  stopped 
to  hold  talks  about  getting  contracts.  I  am 
bothered  beyond  description  in  such  matters. 
Now,  if  I  am  so  pestered,  how  must  it  be  with  the 
quartermaster?  Indeed  I  pity  him.  He  has  a 
hard  place  to  fill  and  should  be  a  keen,  rough, 


45 


James  Speed 

shrewd  man.  With  all  the  vigilance  that  he  can 
use  he  must  be  now  and  then  cheated.  I  will  do 
what  I  can  to  guard  him.  The  business  of  the 
department  is  hard  to  keep  up  and  give  satisfaction. 

As  to  news  here.  We  are  greatly  in  doubt 
about  the  strength  of  Buckner's  army.  Some  say 
that  it  is  large  and  well  organized,  others  that  it 
is  small  and  badly  organized  and  ill-armed.  They 
may  be  well  informed  in  military  circles.  It  is  also 
doubted  whether  the  railroad  bridge  over  Green 
River  has  been  destroyed.  To-day  the  impression 
is  that  it  has  not.  It  seems  to  be  well  understood 
that  the  Rebels  are  fortifying  Bowling  Green. 
They  have  been  also  busy  destroying  the  fords 
over  Green  River.  This,  some  say,  is  a  mere  blind, 
an  effort  to  conceal  a  purpose  to  advance,  others 
•that  it  is  done  to  keep  our  forces  from  advancing 
against  them.  We  have  also  contradictory  reports 
as  to  the  conduct  of  the  Rebels  below  Green  River. 
At  first  they  behaved  pretty  well.  Lately  they 
have  been  committing  many  outrages. 

Enlisting  in  our  army  is  improving  here.  Those 
amongst  us  can  sympathize  that  the  traitors  are 
silenced.  It  seems  to  me  that  with  silence  on  their 
part  the  bitterness  of  feeling  is  somewhat  subsided. 

Let  me  hear  from  you  whenever  you  have  any 
matter  of  interest. 

I  am,  sir,  your  most  obedient  servant, 

JAMES  SPEED. 
46 


A  Personality 

It  is  indeed  fortunate  that  in  the  year  1863 
James  Speed's  wife  should  have  happened  upon 
his  old  diary  of  1844.  Evidently,  on  the  spur 
of  the  moment  she  decided  to  write  a  diary  of 
her  own.  Several  quotations  are  used  here  to 
precede  a  great  number  of  extracts  from  letters 
which  James  Speed  wrote  to  his  mother  from 
Washington  in  1864,  1865,  and  1866. 

March  n,  1863. 

Nineteen  years  have  passed  away  since  my 
husband's  last  entry  into  this  diary,  commenced 
and  ended  in  the  spring  of  1844.  What  changes 
have  taken  place  since  this  journal  of  my  husband's 
was  thrown  aside,  and  deeply  do  I  regret  that  he 
did  not  continue  to  note  those  changes  as  they 
occurred,  for  though  sad  in  much,  yet  much  that 
was  pleasant  likewise  has  passed,  and  to  our 
children  it  would  have  been  gratifying  to  look  over 
the  events  of  their  childhood  and  youth,  traced  in 
the  familiar  character  and  style  belonging  to  their 
father. 

To-day  my  good  husband  is  fifty-one  years  old, 
and  to  my  eyes  looks  younger  than  he  did  ten 
years  ago.  As  he  advances  his  health  grows  better 


47 


James  Speed 

and  he  is  able  to  bear  more  physically  than  when 
younger.  The  troublous  times  in  which  we  are 
now  involved,  and  the  constant  causes  for  appre- 
hension from  the  amount  of  secessionism  in  our 
goodly  State,  and  the  desperate  efforts  all  loyal  men 
have  been  compelled  to  make  to  keep  the  Southern 
cunning  from  overcoming  and  drawing  her  into  the 
vortex — all  this  has  not  made  him  depressed  or 
gloomy,  but  rather  added  to  the  buoyancy  of  his 
spirits  and  certainly  to  his  physical  strength. 

Within  the  limits  of  a  diary  the  present  condi- 
tion of  our  country  can  not  be  more  than  glanced 
at,  but  if  my  plan  in  this  is  carried  out,  the  events 
as  they  occur  will  be  noted  and  may  to  some  of  my 
descendants  form  an  interesting  book  of  reference. 
As  I  before  said,  'tis  my  husband's  birthday,  and  in 
honor  to  that  event  will  go  make  him  some  hard 
gingerbread,  which  he  loves  as  much  as  any  child. 

March  13,  1863. 

Not  every  day  can  I  find  time  or  material  to 
write  in  this  my  diary,  yet  feel  that  having  com- 
menced it,  I  must  for  consistency's  sake  keep  up 
as  regularly  as  possible. 

This  dear  good  husband,  to  whom  I  belong, 
throws  cold  water  on  every  effort  I  make  to  leave 
home  .  w  .  or  some  other  equally  good  reason, 
never  thinking  that  it  is  purely  selfish  and  arises 

48 


A  Personality 

from  dislike  to  having  the  old  familiar  face  out  of 
its  usual  place.  Generous  in  most  things — in  this 
consent  to  my  home-leaving  he  can  not  afford  to 
be  aught  but  miserly.  Well,  I  can  not  blame  him, 
for  we  have  no  daughter  or  other  feminine  to  take 
my  place,  and  so  the  home  would  be  lonely;  but 
he  leaves  me  and  that  right  often,  but  very  seldom 
from  choice.  He  has  just  been  released  by  his 
term  ending  in  the  Senate  of  our  State.  That  has 
taken  up  much  of  his  time  owing  to  the  frequent 
call  of  the  Legislature  to  meet,  to  dispose  of  the 
increased  business  consequent  on  the  unsettled 

condition  of  our  country 

This  has  all  been  easy  to  them,  because  of  their 
being  a  loyal  majority,  but  how  long  this  may  be, 
time  only  can  tell,  for  on  the  eighteenth  of  this 
month  a  convention  will  be  held  in  our  city  to 
decide  on  proper  candidates  for  Governor  and  other 
important  State  officers,  election  to  come  off  in 
August,  and  should  the  secession  party  be  allowed 
to  nominate  theirs  too,  they  would  soon  be  in  a 
majority,  for  our  true  men  are  off  serving  their 
country,  and  their  privilege  is  lost;  not  being 
behind  the  scenes  I  can  not  tell  how  things  are  to 
be  managed,  but  will  trust  to  the  sagacity  of  our 
leaders  to  manage  right. 

The  intimacy  between  Lincoln  and  the  Speed 
family  dated  from  the  day  when  the  slender, 

49 


James  Speed 

uncouth  young  lawyer  drifted  into  the  general 
merchandise  store,  kept  by  Joshua  F.  Speed  at 
Springfield,  Illinois.  Lincoln  was  looking  for 
some  cheap  furniture  with  which  to  equip  a 
room  for  himself,  while  waiting  for  practice. 
Not  having  the  price  of  even  the  cheapest  set, 
Joshua  Speed  offered  him  the  use  of  the  room 
that  he  occupied  above  the  old  store  and  they 
became  bosom  friends.  Lincoln  paid  several 
visits  to  "Farmington,"  the  Speed  home,  during 
the  ensuing  years;  frequently  he  rode  into 
Louisville  on  horseback  to  sit  in  James  Speed's 
office  and  chat  with  him  about  slavery  and  the 
questions  of  the  day.  When  Lincoln  became 
President  of  the  United  States  he  was  extremely 
anxious  to  have  his  closest  friend,  Joshua  F. 
Speed,  as  a  member  of  his  cabinet.  Joshua 
Speed,  however,  felt  that  his  post  of  duty  was 
at  home  in  Kentucky,  where  tremenduous 
efforts  must  be  made  to  hold  that  State  within 
the  Union.  Both  James  and  Joshua  Speed  were 

50 


A  Personality 

busy  during  the  early  part  of  the  Rebellion  in 
handling  any  number  of  delicate  situations  which 
were  constantly  arising. 

One  bleak  November  day,  1864,  when  James 
Speed  sat  with  his  feet  before  a  blazing  fire  in 
his  office  in  Louisville,  Kentucky,  a  telegram 
was  handed  him.  For  a  moment  it  was  difficult 
for  him  to  get  his  mind  off  the  important  papers 
which  he  was  reading  in  one^of  the  suits  brought 
by  the  Louisville  &  Nashville  Railroad.  The 
telegram  was  from  Lincoln  telling  him  that 
Mr.  Bates  had  resigned  as  Attorney-General  of 
the  United  States,  and  the  position  was  tendered 
him.  It  is  not  necessary  at  this  point  to  write 
more  than  to  say  the  letters  which  follow  give 
his  own  ideas  of  his  position  and  what  he  felt 
he  might  be  able  to  do  in  that  position  for  his 
country  and  the  State. 

Washington,  December  5,  1864. 
Dear  Mother: 

I  have  seen  the  President  this  morning  and 
consented  to  take  the  office  tendered,  in  the  event 

51 


James  Speed 

my  nomination  is  confirmed  by  the  Senate.  He 
desired  that  I  should  qualify  at  once  and  have  the 
confirmation  to  follow.  As  the  Senate  is  in  session, 
I  thought  it  best  not  to  qualify  until  the  nomina- 
tion shall  be  confirmed.  In  this,  it  would  seem 
that  I  have  been  singular,  but  I  am  acting  from  the 
dictates  of  common  sense,  and  I  am  sure  that  I  am 
right.  When  I  feel  sure  that  I  am  right  notions 
of  etiquette  and  mere  conventionalities  make  no 
impression  upon  me. 

Now,  my  dear  Mother,  you  see  that  I  am  upon 
the  eve  of  assuming  a  very  elevated,  dignified,  and 
responsible  office.  My  personal  friends,  or  the  few 
that  I  have  consulted,  think  that  I  should  accept. 
It  is  with  unaffected  diffidence  that  I  will  do  so. 
For  the  honesty  of  purpose  and  diligent  habits  of 
your  son,  I  am  sure  you  shall  never  have  occasion 
to  be  ashamed.  If  God  and  Nature  have  not  en- 
dowed him  with  ability  equal  to  the  station,  he 
can  not  help  it.  I  will  work  hard  and  honestly  for 
the  good  and  glory  of  my  country,  and  leave  the 
consequences  to  God,  in  a  firm  faith  that  He  will 
order  all  things  for  the  best. 

The  call  was  sudden  and  unexpected.  It  looks 
to  me  much  like  leaving  my  old  home  and  life- 
long friends  forever.  Yet  in  a  great  crisis  like 
this,  we  must  fling  behind  us  all  such  consid- 
erations. 


Photo  by  Brady  of  \Vashingto 

PRESIDENT  LINCOLN  AND  CABINET 


A  Personality 

Washington,  December  n,  1864. 
Dear  Mother: 

I  am  pleased  to  learn  from  gentlemen  of  both 
sides,  opposition  men  and  administration  men,  that 
they  never  saw  Congress  open  with  as  little  bitter- 
ness of  feeling.  Such  a  state  of  things  just  following 
so  fierce  a  canvass  speaks  well  for  the  stability  of 
our  republican  institutions.  The  overwhelming 
vote  for  Mr.  Lincoln  rebuked  so  severely  this  spirit 
of  faction  that  it  has  had  to  retire  for  a  season  to 
gather  hope  and  courage.  But  that  demonlike 
spirit  will  not  remain  quiet  long;  after  a  while  it 
will  be  at  work  again.  Why,  for  what,  and  when 
will  it  rise  again,  no  man  can  tell.  As  sure,  how- 
ever, as  man's  evil  passions  compose  a  part  of  his 
nature,  so  surely  will  there  be  a  future  exhibition 
of  a  merely  factious  spirit. 

I  find  that  the  labor  of  my  office  will  be  great; 
with  a  watchful  care  over  my  health  and  habits, 
I  think  that  I  will  get  through  them. 

Washington,  December  18,  1864. 
Dear  Mother: 

The  change  I  have  made  is  a  sudden  and  great 
one  and  the  responsibilities  and  labors  of  the  office 
even  greater  than  the  change  I  have  made.  I  will 
watch  my  health,  do  my  best,  and  cheerfully  meet 
the  consequences  so  far  as  I  am  personally  con- 


53 


James  Speed 

cerned.  If,  notwithstanding  my  diligence,  I  shall 
commit  mistakes  by  which  the  country  shall  suffer, 
it  will  be  painful  to  me.  That  chance  I  must 
meet,  too. 

My  own  health,  I  think,  is  good,  if  not  better 
than  when  I  left  home.  I  have  two  very  good 
rooms  and  take  my  meals  at  a  clean  home,  where 
the  feed  and  company  are  both  very  agreeable  to 
me.  As  to  creature  comforts,  I  am  as  well  off  as 
a  man  can  be,  who  happens  to  have  it  ground  into 
him  that  things  are  not  worth  considering  unless 
looked  after  and  presided  over  by  a  fond  wife. 


Washington,  January  I,  1865. 
Dear  Mother: 

I  am  glad  to  say  that  I  never  was  in  better 
health  in  my  life.  Fortunately,  hard  work  has 
become  a  necessity  to  me.  By  the  way,  where  do 
I  get  that  disposition  from?  Neither  the  Speed 
nor  the  Fry  men,  according  to  my  knowledge,  have 
been  fond  of  work. 

The  day  here  has  been  beautifully  clear,  but 
very  cold,  and  is  growing  constantly  colder. 

Though  at  the  fountain-head  of  all  news,  I 
never  hear  any  till  it  is  stale.  I  am  so  occupied 
with  the  law  department  of  the  Government  that 
I  have  not  time  even  to  hear  or  ask  the  news. 


54 


A  Personality 

Washington,  January  8,  1865. 
Dear  Mother: 

These  times  and  my  situation  here  are  giving 
to  me,  in  some  things,  a  queer  experience.  Last 
Sunday  I  received  a  letter  from  a  lady  in  Phila- 
delphia, a  native  Kentuckian  and  claiming  to  be 
intensely  loyal,  seeking  my  influence  to  get  her  only 
son  in  the  Naval  Academy.  The  next  day  I 
received  a  letter  from  her  sister  in  Little  Rock, 
Arkansas,  telling  me  that  her  only  son  is  a  Rebel 
prisoner  at  Johnson's  Island  and  earnestly  asking, 
in  consideration  of  her  nativity,  that  I  should  get 
him  paroled. 

Since  I  have  held  this  office  I  find  that  I  have 
more  acquaintances  and  friends  in  all  parts  of  the 
country  than  I  had  dreamed  of.  They  seem  to 
know  me,  and  I  don't  care  to  know  them. 

Washington,  January  15,  1865. 
Dear  Mother: 

During  the  last  week  I  have  been  to  two  great 
dinners — one  given  by  Mr.  Jordan,  Solicitor  of  the 
Treasury,  and  one  by  Mr.  Hooper,  member  of 
Congress  from  Massachusetts,  and  a  very  wealthy 
merchant.  As  for  the  eating,  I  have  taken  and 
enjoyed  very  many  dinners  at  your  house  in  the 
country  and  in  town  much  more  than  either  of 
them.  We  had  nothing  at  either  dinner  as  good 


55 


James  Speed 

as  jowl  and  turnip  greens,  or  pig's  head  and  hominy. 
The  table  appointments  at  Mr.  Hooper's  were 
splendid.  But  I  will  try  to  go  over  again  the  whole 
affair  as  it  may  be  of  interest  to  you. 

I  was  invited  at  six,  and  was  there  at  the  minute. 
I  was  ushered  into  a  very  elegantly  furnished  and 
splendidly  lighted  parlor,  where  there  was  one 
gentleman.  He  stepped  forward  and  gracefully 
introduced  himself,  being  Professor  Agaziz.  In  a 
short  time  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hooper  and  Miss  Motley 
entered;  soon  after  the  other  guests  arrived,  being 
ten  gentlemen  to  the  two  ladies.  Mrs.  Hooper  is 
a  very  pretty  young  woman,  and  very  tastefully 
dressed.  Miss  Motley,  young,  vigorous,  and  over 
dressed;  the  dress  and  not  the  woman  arrested  the 
attention.  On  looking  around  at  the  gentlemen  I 
found  them  all  dressed  in  swallow-tailed  coats, 
except  myself,  and  nicely  fixed  up  at  all  points  from 
head  to  heel.  I  looked  upon  it  as  a  mere  conven- 
tionality of  which  I  had  not  been  appraised  and 
so  thought  no  more  of  it.  It  did  strike  me,  however, 
as  a  little  odd  that  Professor  Agaziz,  Mr.  Secretary 
Seward,  Admiral  Farragut,  and  Chief  Justice  Chase 
should  make  a  point  on  dress.  At  about  half  past 
six  o'clock  the  folding  doors  were  drawn  and  three 
large  parlors,  all  splendidly  furnished  and  bril- 
liantly lighted,  were  thrown  together;  in  the  farther 
one  of  the  three  was  the  table.  The  doors  were 
drawn  so  noiselessly  that  the  table,  all  decked  with 

56 


A  Personality 

flowers  and  glittering  with  silver,  seemed  to  have 
been  placed  there  by  enchantment.  The  Chief 
Justice  was  on  the  right  of  Mrs.  Hooper  with  Mr. 
Secretary  of  State  on  her  left;  Admiral  Farragut 
on  the  right  of  Mr.  Hooper,  with  the  Attorney- 
General  on  his  left.  We  had  many  courses,  but 
your  son  recognized  nothing  but  soup,  fish,  sweet- 
breads, and  green  peas.  Not  knowing  how  many 
courses  we  were  to  have  or  what  they  were  to  be  I 
took  a  little  of  everything  that  I  might  be  sure  to 
get  enough.  I  was  of  course  careful  not  to  eat  much 
of  anything.  We  had  most  excellent  wines — Port, 
Sherry,  Hoche,  Champagne,  and  Madeira.  About 
nine  o'clock  the  ladies  retired,  all  rising  and  bowing 
them  out.  After  the  ladies  left  we  had  cigars  and 
wound  up  just  before  ten  o'clock  with  a  glass  of 
seltzer  water  to  each. 

I  slept  well  that  night  and  rose  the  next  morning 
with  a  clean  head  and  a  good  appetite  for  my 
breakfast  and  my  work.  I  opine,  however,  that 
most  of  the  gentlemen  did  not  feel  as  well  the  next 
day  as  I. 

This  is  about  as  good  a  description  of  a  dinner 
as  I  can  give. 

Mr.  Jordan's  dinner,  though  nothing  like  equal 
to  Mr.  Hooper's  in  show  and  cost,  was  really  much 
more  pleasant,  the  company  seemed  to  be  better 
assorted,  and  the  conversation  unfagging  and 


57 


James  Speed 

brilliant.  At  Mr.  Hooper's  we  had  one  gentleman 
who  wanted  all  to  listen  when  he  talked.  At  Mr. 
Jordan's  we  had  no  such  bore. 

Washington,  March  28,  1865. 
My  Dear  Mother: 

The  newspapers  will  give  you  as  good  an  idea 
of  the  grand  review  as  you  can  get  upon  paper. 
The  truth  is  it  surpassed  all  description.  I  had  no 
idea  that  Sherman's  army  was  as  large,  and  in 
appointments  and  appearance  it  surpassed  all  my 
expectations. 

Most  persons  seem  to  think  that  our  troubles 
are  all  over.  We  have  the  welcome  news  that 
Kirby  Smith  has  surrendered.  This  makes  it 
certain  that  there  will  be  no  more  great  battles, 
probably  nothing  beyond  mere  guerrilla  fights. 
But  many  difficulties  remain  to  be  settled,  and 
unless  the  people  of  the  South  act  wisely  and  act 
promptly,  great  suffering  is  still  in  store  for  them. 
If  they  will  frankly  and  fully  acknowledge  the 
freedom  of  the  black  man  and  give  to  him  the 
chance  for  improvement  and  elevation,  their  burden 
will  be  greatly  lessened.  On  the  other  hand,  if 
they  discover  anxiety  again  to  enslave  him,  he  will 
be  kept  in  a  state  of  uncertainty  and  unrest,  and 
all  the  bad  conduct  incident,  and  necessarily  inci- 
dent to  such  a  feeling  must  be  expected.  The  task 
imposed  upon  them  is  a  severe  one.  To  fling  off  at 

58 


A  Personality 

a  single  effort  lifelong  prejudices  is  a  difficult  matter 
for  a  whole  people. 

Washington,  April  10,  1865. 
Dear  Mother: 

I  got  back  from  Richmond  yesterday  evening. 
The  trip  was  a  sad  one,  oh,  so  sad.  My  instincts 
all  told  me  not  to  go — I  could  not  refuse  without 
giving  offense.  All  the  business  part  of  the  town  is 
in  ruins.  The  white  people  looked  dejected  and 
subdued  beyond  description.  I  could  have  wept 
from  pure  sympathy.  So  strong  was  my  sympathy 
that  for  a  time  I  forgot  that  they  were  but  reaping 
the  fruits  of  the  trees  they  had  planted.  As  God's 
judgments  are  righteous,  they  must  suffer.  But 
enough  of  this  sad  subject.  It  is  painful  to  think 
over  what  I  saw  and  yet  it  is  right  that  I  should 
have  seen  it.  My  future  notions  and  conduct  will 
be  greatly  modified  by  what  I  did  see. 

Washington,  April  16,  1865. 
Dear  Mother: 

I  seize  a  moment's  pause  in  the  Cabinet  to  say 
to  you  that  I  am  well  and  remember  you  and  my 
duty  to  you  with  all  dutiful  respects. 

Our  troubles  are  huge.  The  labors  upon  me 
by  consequence  are  great.  I  hope  that  I  may  be 
able  to  perform  my  duty  and  my  whole  duty  to  the 
country.  That  I  have  the  love  and  prayers  of  a 


59 


James  Speed 

good  Mother  is  a  consolation  to  me.  The  best  and 
greatest  man  I  ever  knew,  and  one  holding  just 
now  the  highest  and  most  responsible  position  on 
earth,  has  been  taken  from  us,  but  do  not  be  down- 
cast and  hopeless.  This  great  Government  was 
not  bound  up  in  the  life  of  any  one  man.  The 
great  and  true  principles  of  self-government  will 
under  God  be  worked  out  by  us  or  by  better  men. 

Washington,  April  17,  1865. 
Dear  Joshua: 

The  death  of  the  President,  who  was  the  greatest 
and  best  man  I  ever  knew,  will,  of  course,  greatly 
increase  my  labors  and  responsibilities. 

Now,  each  man  must  stand  to  his  place — no 
flinching;  I  think  that  matters  will  go  on  just  as 
before.     I  do  not  think  that  I   can  come  home 
soon.     Have  you  a  full  and  sufficient  power  of, 
attorney? 

Washington,  April  30,  1865. 
My  Dear  Mother: 

I  am  in  full  health,  and  thanks  to  an  inheritance 
from  you,  of  undying  hope.  My  faith  in  the  right 
is  unfaltering  and  firm  and  cheerful  in  hope. 
Beautiful  and  bright  are  the  days  before  us.  We 
must,  from  this  day  forth,  show  mercy,  charity,  and 
forgiveness  to  those  who  have  wildly  and  madly 

60 


A  Personality 

sinned.  How  much  sweeter  duty  than  that  of 
slaughtering  them  with  the  terrible  engines  of  war. 
That  from  the  seeds  of  mercy  and  forgiveness  now 
to  be  planted  may  spring  the  sweet  blossoms  and 
life-giving  fruits  of  peace  is  the  earnest  wish  of  my 
heart.  I  will  labor  to  the  end  that  love  shall 
overcome  hate. 

Cataract  House, 

Niagara  Falls,  June  6,  1865. 
Dear  Mother: 

I  did  not  forget  you  on  Sunday,  nor  do  I  feel 
guilty  of  neglect.  I  was  at  Detroit  and  so  busy  all 
day  that  I  had  not  time  to  write.  I  had  hoped  to 
be  able  to  come  to  Louisville  from  Detroit,  but 
business  has  brought  me  here,  and  from  here  I  must 
return  to  my  post. 

I  came  yesterday  from  Detroit  to  this  place 
through  Canada.  There  was  on  the  train  a  large 
delegation  of  merchants  from  Milwaukee,  Chicago, 
and  Detroit,  going  to  visit  the  merchants  of  Boston 
on  invitation.  The  Canadians  set  apart  for  them 
three  splendid  cars.  The  delegation  was  greeted  at 
every  village  with  shouts  and  -huzzahs.  The 
merchants  of  London,  Canada,  gave  them  a  splen- 
did dinner.  The  dining  hall  was  hung  around  with 
American  and  English  flags  most  lovingly  inter- 
twined. Toasts  were  given  to  our  President,  to 
our  flag,  and  to  our  country.  The  bands  played 

61 


James  Speed 

"Yankee  Doodle"  with  a  will.  The  Canadians  are 
now,  since  they  see  the  might  of  Uncle  Sam,  not 
only  friendly,  but  overflowing  with  pure  love. 

I  traveled  incog.,  i.  e.,  I  did  not  let  it  be  known 
that  I  was  Attorney-General.  What  I  saw  and 
heard  made  me  proud  of  my  country.  Not  quite 
a  year  ago  I  was  here  and  was  advised  not  to  cross 
the  river  for  fear  of  an  insult.  Now,  the  Southern 
refugees  in  Canada,  then  such  braggarts,  are  in 
deep  and  humiliating  disgrace.  Of  course,  some  of 
them  are  innocent  of  the  terrible  crimes  that  others 
have  been  guilty  of.  It  is  to  be  regretted,  and  yet 
in  this  world  the  innocent  must  often  suffer  with 
us  for  the  guilty. 

I  heard  yesterday  a  very  characteristic  story 
of  Mr.  Lincoln  that  you  may  not  have  seen  or 
heard. 

His  messenger  came  into  his  room  one  evening 
and  said,  "Mr.  President,  there  is  a  woman  in  the 
anteroom  who  has  been  there  all  day,  and  has  done 
nothing  but  weep."  "Show  her  in,"  said  Mr. 
Lincoln.  He  received  her  in  his  usual  kind  manner. 
She  told  her  story.  Her  husband  and  three  sons 
had  joined  the  Federal  army.  The  husband  had 
been  killed.  She  had  other  small  children  and 
could  not  support  them.  She  asked  that  her 
oldest  boy  might  be  discharged  to  aid  her.  Sitting 
down  he  said,  "I  have  three  and  you  have  none." 
He  gave  her  the  discharge.  She  found  her  way  to 

62 


A  Personality 

the  Army  of  the  Potomac  with  the  discharge  and 
found  that  her  boy  had  been  killed  the  day  before. 
Getting  her  paper  properly  indorsed,  she  sought 
Mr.  Lincoln  again.  Mr.  Lincoln  read  it  and  said, 
"I  have  two  and  you  have  none;  your  second  boy 
shall  be  discharged."  When  he  sat  down  to  write 
the  good  woman  came  up  and  as  he  wrote  she  ran 
her  fingers  through  his  hair. 

Washington,  June  17,  1865. 
Dear  Mother: 

I  have  been  very  busy  lately  trying  to  tame  the 
wild  Irish.  I  trust  that  they  will  be  more  quiet 
in  the  future. 

Now  and  then  I  meet  with  a  man  as  wild  about 
our  home  affairs  as  an  Irishman  is  about  the  Emer- 
ald Isle.  Yesterday  I  saw  a  man  of  position, 
learning,  and  talent,  who  has  been  all  the  time 
loyal,  who  believes  that  we  are  rushing  into  a 
second  revolution  more  rapidly  than  we  did  into 
the  first.  He  was  a  Democrat  all  of  his  long  life 
till  the  war.  Having  the  good  sense  and  pluck  to 
go  for  his  country  and  against  his  party  during  the 
war,  he  has  not  the  firmness  to  hold  on.  Old 
hatreds  and  old  affections  are  reviving  and  control- 
ling him.  I  was  both  amused  and  instructed  by 
his  earnest  and  decided  talk.  The  slang  and  catch 
words  of  dead  parties  were  rolled  from  his  mouth 


James  Speed 

with  a  relishing  smack  of  his  lips.  I  saw  and  felt 
that  it  was  folly  now  as  of  old  to  put  new  wine  into 
old  bottles. 

I  take  it  that  Kentucky  will  be  wildly  mad  over 
the  proposed  constitutional  amendment.  If  she 
will  only  think  and  talk  earnestly,  honestly,  and 
calmly  all  will  work  out  right.  Have  but  little 
hope  that  she  will  do  so.  She  gets  foolishly  mad 
upon  every  new  question. 

Has  it  never  occurred  to  you  that  Mr.  Clay's 
great  name  has  been  an  injury  to  Kentucky  during 
our  troubles?  He  was  a  great  popular  leader,  was 
a  giant  in  that  line.  Kentucky  was  silly  enough  to 
think  that  his  strength  and  power  were  hers,  and 
chaffed  and  fretted  because  the  pigmies  that  she 
put  in  his  place  did  not  wield  the  power  that  she 
supposed  she  had  infused  into  them.  With  Mr. 
Clay  to  lead  she  was  a  power  in  the  land;  with  his 
petty  successors  she  sunk  out  of  sight. 

Washington,  July  3,  1865. 
Dear  Mother: 

Your  old  Mother  Virginia  is  not  only  in  trouble 
but  great  suffering.  Much  of  my  time  is  taken 
up  in  talking  with  her  penitent  sons.  I  feel  deeply 
for  them.  They  have  been  very  strongheaded,  but 
are  a  brave,  generous  people,  and  I  must  feel  for 
and  with  them.  They  acknowledged  themselves 

64 


A  Personality 

as  beaten — fairly  whipped.  They  made  the  ac- 
knowledgment frankly  but  proudly.  I  honor  them 
for  their  frankness  and  their  pride  and  will  do  all 
I  can  to  alleviate  and  shorten  their  sufferings. 

Washington,  September  10,  1865. 
Dear  Mother: 

.  .  .  I  see  a  great  many  gentlemen  from  the 
South,  indeed.  Washington  is  crowded  with  them. 
I  am  happy  to  believe  that  they  are  not  only  willing 
but  anxious  to  come  back  into  the  fold  and  shelter 
under  the  old  flag.  They  exhibit  no  bitterness, 
generally  acknowledge  with  a  manly  frankness 
that  commands  respect  that  they  were  wrong,  but 
honestly  so.  Mr.  Seward,  who  has  been  regarded 
by  them  as  their  bitterest  enemy,  and  they  hated 
him  accordingly,  seems  now  to  be  their  pet.  Each 
and  all  of  them  are  anxious  to  see  him,  and  when 
they  do  see  him  they  greet  him  with  hearty  and 
unaffected  cordiality.  Mr.  Seward  is  a  man  of 
great  talents,  of  exalted  and  well  regulated  ambi- 
tions, and  of  as  kind  and  good  heart  as  ever  beat 
in  the  bosom  of  a  man.  He  is  pleased  and  touched 
by  the  generous  sympathy  thus  manifested  by 
those  whom  he  knew  but  lately  hated  him.  For 
four  years  past  we  have  been  seeing  human  nature 
in  its  worst  aspects ;  the  scene  is  changing  and  much 
more  rapidly  than  I  had  hoped.  I  do  most  fondly 
believe  that  the  spirit  of  love  will  soon  roll  back  the 

65 


James  Speed 

dark  and  terrible  clouds  that  have  hung  over  and 
about  us.  The  faces  of  the  Southern  men  are  as  a 
bow  of  promise,  and  we  love  to  gaze  upon  it.  May 
the  day  soon  come  when  throughout  this  land  we 
shall  be  all  brothers.  My  desire  is  to  aid  in  accom- 
plishing that,  my  labor  to  find  out  the  way  to  do  it. 

It  is  very  fortunate  indeed  that  several 
letters  of  Joshua  Fry  Speed  to  his  brother  James 
Speed  have  lately  been  unearthed,  which  give 
in  very  clear  and  forceful  manner  his  attitude 
toward  the  questions  of  the  day.  The  following 
letter  is  especially  fine  in  that  it  takes  up  in  a 
short,  crisp  way  what  he  thought  of  the  right 
to  secede  on  the  part  of  any  State. 

Louisville,  September  15,  1865. 
My  Dear  James: 

If  I  understand  anything  of  public  sentiment,  I 
think  I  can  plainly  see  that  there  will  be  no  organi- 
zation anywhere  in  favor  of  returning  to  the  old 
system.  The  antagonisms  in  the  party  organiza- 
tions before  the  country  will  be  upon  the  right  of 
suffrage  being  extended  to  the  negro.  Under  the 
Constitution  as  I  read  it,  I  can  not  see  how  the 
General  Government  can  have  anything  to  do  with 


66 


A  Personality 

the  question.  You  must  have  some  nucleus  of 
loyal  men  to  begin  with.  They  should  be  sustained 
by  the  General  Government  in  their  action,  when- 
ever their  action  did  not  conflict  with  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States. 

I  think  that  the  right  to  secede  on  the  part  of  a 
State  is  not  more  absurd  than  for  the  General 
Government  to  claim  to  control  the  status  of 
suffrage  in  the  States.  As  well  might  she  claim  to 
control  the  relation  of  husband  and  wife,  guardian 
and  ward,  the  laws  of  decent  country  roads,  street 
horses,  jacks  and  jennies,  wolf  scalps  and  dog  laws. 

Mr.  Seward  once  said  to  me  that  he  dreaded  the 
settlement  of  questions  resulting  from  the  war  more 
than  he  did  the  war  itself.  That  war  was  a  ques- 
tion of  muscle  and  money  both  of  which  could  be 
measured  by  calculation.  But  that  he  knew  of  no 
rule  by  which  you  could  calculate  upon  the  follies, 
politicians,  and  party  organizations.  I  often  think 
of  the  wisdom  of  his  remarks. 

Washington,  September  24,  1865. 
Dear  Mother: 

I  have  heretofore  said  nothing  about  it  because 
I  feared  disappointment,  but  I  had  confidently 
expected  to  see  you  the  last  of  this  month.  I  am 
disappointed.  The  President  has  determined  to 
accept  the  invitation  to  visit  Richmond  and 

67 


James  Speed 

Raleigh,  and  desires  to  be  accompanied  by  as  many 
of  his  Cabinet  as  possible.  Now,  it  is  impossible 
for  me  to  say  when  I  can  come  home.  I  must 
balance  the  pleasure  of  doing  my  duty  against  the 
pleasure  of  seeing  you  and  my  relatives  and  friends 
about  Louisville.  I  feel,  dear  Mother,  that  you 
would  be  glad  to  see  me,  but  not  at  the  cost  of 
neglected  duty.  The  President  feels  that  it  is  his 
duty  to  do  all  that  is  in  his  power  to  make  the  two 
sections  friendly  again  and  as  speedily  as  possible, 
and  with  that  hope  will  go  the  last  of  next  week  to 
Richmond  and  Raleigh.  When  he  gets  back  he 
can  or  ought  to  go  North.  If  he  makes  both  visits 
I  will  get  as  much  rest  as  I  will  need.  I  say  rest, 
when  it  is  uncertain  whether  the  fuss  and  muss  into 
which  I  will  be  thrown  will  be  rest.  Somehow  or 
other  I  can  not  become  fond  of  jam  of  eager  crowds. 
To  be  known  to  all  and  yet  know  no  one  is  particu- 
larly disagreeable  to  me.  It  would  be  a  great 
pleasure  to  be  occasionally  incog.  The  world  does 
not  know  how  little  positions  and  responsibility 
change  the  heart  and  tastes  of  a  man.  They  do  not 
increase  his  disposition  and  I  think  his  ability  for 
labor,  whereas  the  world  seems  to  think  that  he  is 
eager  to  make  a  show  for  himself.  Not  by  our  lips 
but  by  our  lives,  not  by  our  promises  but  by  our 
works  would  we  be  known.  The  man  or  men  that 
can  make  this  country  peaceful,  happy,  and  pros- 
perous must  work  patiently,  constantly,  and  avoid 

68 


A  Personality 

all  deluding  and  delusive  shows  for  show's  sake. 
They  must  forget  themselves.  In  this  the  Presi- 
dent is  a  remarkable  man.  I  have  seen  him  inti- 
mately since  he  went  into  his  great  office,  and  can 
say  with  confidence  that  he  is  a  patriot  and  as 
unselfish  as  Mr.  Lincoln  was.  Mr.  Lincoln  made 
mistakes,  but  he  was  honest  and  the  country  and 
the  world  forgave  him.  Mr.  Johnson  may  make 
mistakes,  but  if  he  does  they  will  be  unselfish  and 
he  will  be  honest. 

Washington,  October  I,  1865. 
Dear  Mother: 

.  .  .  .  You  would  be  astonished  to  see  how 
the  Southern  people  flock  to  Washington.  Moham- 
medans do  not  look  more  anxiously  to  or  visit  Mecca 
more  devoutly  than  they  do  to  Washington.  If 
our  conduct  shall  only  be  as  wise  as  our  wishes  are 
ardent  for  the  right,  this  will  soon  be  a  united  and 
happy  country.  After  writing  the  foregoing  sen- 
tence, I  threw  my  eyes  out  of  the  window  and  saw 
full  before  me  the  unfinished  monument  to  Wash- 
ington. How  fit  and  proper  it  was  that  during 
the  late  struggle  it  should  have  remained  as  it  is. 
The  work  that  he  so  nobly  begun  is  yet  incomplete. 
Like  Paul,  he  planted;  as  Apollos,  we  must  water. 
We  have  had  to  water  with  blood  but  the  blood 
of  martyrs  fertilizes  the  soil.  When  we  were 
dissevered,  hating  and  fighting  each  other,  no  lick 

69 


James  Speed 

was  struck  upon  the  shaft,  and  I  hope  that  none 
will  be  till  we  are  again  at  peace  and  love  shall 
reign  and  hold  sway  throughout  the  land.  I  do 
most  fervently  pray  and  honestly  work  for  the 
coming  of  that  good  time.  It  is  a  strengthening 
thought  to  know  that  I  have  the  prayers  of  one 
of  the  best  and  kindest  Mothers. 


Washington,  October  21,  1865. 
Dear  Mother: 

.  .  .  A  gentleman,  lately  the  Rebel  Gover- 
nor of  a  Rebel  State,  came  here  for  pardon.  He 
called  on  me,  was  modest,  gentlemanly,  but  won- 
derfully anxious;  and  well  he  might  be,  as  his 
fortune  had  been  sacrificed  and  he  had  a  wife  and 
children  to  whom  he  was  devotedly  attached, 
dependent  upon  him.  After  a  short,  official,  and 
formal  interview,  we  parted.  That  evening  I  sent 
his  pardon  to  the  President.  The  next  morning  on 
calling  to  pay  his  respects  to  the  President,  it  was 
delivered  to  him.  Soon  afterward  he  came  running 
and  out  of  breath,  wild  with  joy  as  a  bird  just  freed 
from  a  cage.  I  said  to  him  pleasantly,  "You  look 
like  a  man  who  had  just  made  friends  with  a  fond 
and  good  wife,  whom  he  had  treated  unkindly." 
Jumping  to  his  feet  he  said,  "That  approximates 
my  feelings  but  does  not  reach  them.  They  are 
indescribable."  The  prodigal  son  and  the  family 


70 


A  Personality 

to  which  he  is  returning  are  equally  full  of  gladness. 
I  have  seen  eyes  that  did  not  quail  before  the 
sabre's  gleam  or  the  cannon's  flash  rain  tears  of 
joy,  the  voice  that  was  steady  and  clear  amidst  the 
din  and  peril  of  battle  choke  up  and  fail.  The 
European  habit  of  embracing  and  kissing  amongst 
men  is  fast  coming  in  vogue.  I  am  thankful  for, 
oh,  how  thankful  for  this  good  time  coming.  And 
I  am  especially  thankful,  dear  Mother,  on  this 
bright  beautiful  Sabbath  morning  to  be  able  to 
thank  you  for  instilling  into  my  mind  and  heart 
the  principles  and  feelings  from  which  so  much 
joy  comes  to  me. 

Many  persons,  and  they  are  loyal  and  good 
people  too,  believe  that  all  this  show  of  good  and 
generous  feeling  from  the  South  is  either  delusive 
or  hypocritical.  They're  mistaken.  I  know  they 
are  mistaken.  It  would  be  a  miracle  if  some  of 
them  were  not  hypocrites,  but  it  is  impossible  that 
of  the  almost  countless  number  I  have  seen,  any- 
thing like  a  majority  should  be.  Trust,  love,  and 
hope  beam  as  directly  from  their  faces  as  does  light 
from  a  cloudless  sun.  Of  course,  they  are  anxious 
about  their  future  and  it  is  right  that  they  should 
be.  But  with  their  anxiety  there  is  a  trusting 
hope  and  a  firm  purpose  to  work  hard  and  a  determi- 
nation to  educe  good  out  of  this  seeming  evil.  And 
they  will  do  it.  The  legitimate  fruits  of  good 
intentions  and  good  deeds  will  in  due  time  ripen 

71 


James  Speed 

to  bless  mankind.  I  believe  that  this  is  true  as 
firmly  as  I  believe  in  an  ever-ruling,  all-wise,  and 
all-good  Providence. 

The  diary  begun  by  James  Speed  in  1844  and 
discontinued  after  about  six  weeks  of  notes 
was  again  written  in  by  his  wife  in  1863.  Some 
extracts  from  this  diary  of  that  date  have  been 
used.  Again,  November  2,  1865,  there  is  a 
short  paragraph  or  two,  which  are  given  below. 

November  2,  1865. 

''The  best  laid  schemes  o'  men  and  mice  gang 
aft  a-gley,"  as  is  shown  in  this  continuation  of 
my  husband's  diary.  Over  two  years  have  elapsed 
since  I  determined,  for  our  children's  sake,  to  take 
up  and  continue  this  journal  of  passing  events,  but 
many  things  have  occurred  to  prevent.  When  last 
written  in,  our  country  was  involved  in  a  Civil 
War;  now  Peace  reigns,  though  the  South  is  still 
suffering  from  the  effects  of  her  evil  course.  A 
country  after  four  years'  war  must  be  involved  in 
great  trouble,  especially  the  conquered  party. 
The  North  never  was  more  prosperous;  indeed,  her 
prosperity  continued  throughout  the  war. 

In  December,  1864,  Mr.  Speed  was  appointed 
Attorney-General  by  President  Lincoln.  In  April 


72 


A  Personality 

the  Southern  army  surrendered,  and  on  fourteenth 
of  same  month  our  beloved  President  was  shot  in 
Ford's  Theatre  by  Wilkes  Booth.  The  Vice-Presi- 
dent  and  Cabinet  were  doomed  to  the  same  fate, 
but  escaped  through  the  cowardice  of  accomplices. 
Mr.  Seward,  Secretary  of  State,  was  attacked  when 
on  a  sickbed,  and  seriously  injured,  but  escaped 
with  life.  His  son  Frederick  was  terribly  beaten 
on  the  head,  fracturing  his  skull,  but  he,  too,  is 
now  nearly  well,  and  to-night  my  husband  has 
gone  to  a  dinner  party  there,  given  to  a  deputation 
sent  from  Tunis,  Africa,  to  condole  with  our 
Government  on  the  assassination  of  our  President. 

Washington,  D.  C.,  November  19,  1865. 
Dear  Mother: 

.  .  .  A  government,  and  especially  a  govern- 
ment framed  as  ours  is,  like  a  great  orchestra,  each 
performer  must  do  his  part  just  as  it  is  set  down, 
relying  that  all  the  rest  will  do  the  same,  and  if 
each  and  all  play  their  parts  exactly,  a  grand 
harmony  is  the  result;  whereas,  if  any  one  fails 
there  must  be  a  jar  and  discord.  Poets  talk  of  the 
music  of  the  spheres,  the  grand  symphony  of 
Nature  because  of  the  beautiful,  exact,  and  eternal 
harmony  of  God's  laws;  man,  that  would  obey  God, 
must  seek  to  approach  the  harmony  of  this  system. 

My  life  latterly  has  been  one  routine  of  labor, 
but  labor  of  kind  that  constantly  tempts  me  to 

73 


James  Speed 

overdo  the  matter.  The  crowds  of  Southern 
people  that  were  here  as  pardon-seekers  have 
gradually  fallen  off.  I  am  satisfied  that  very  few 
of  even  the  most  cultivated  Southerners  appreciate 
the  difficulties  before  them.  In  perfect  good  faith 
they  desire  to  be  in  harmony  and  at  peace  with  the 
United  States,  but  they  do  not  or  can  not  see  what 
is  necessary  to  bring  about  that  peace  and  per- 
petuate the  desired  harmony. 

Washington,  December  3,  1865. 
Dear  Mother: 

The  members  of  Congress  are  nearly  all  here. 
Some  six  weeks  or  two  months  ago  I  expected  that 
they  would  not  come  together  in  good  humor; 
from  appearances  I  will  be  most  agreeably  disap- 
pointed. Of  course  there  will  be  a  very  great 
diversity  of  opinion  amongst  them,  but  it  looks 
now  like  it  would  not  be  angry.  The  Copper 
Heads  are  in  so  small  a  minority  that  they  attract 
very  little  attention.  They  will  remain  quiet  for  a 
time,  and  only  appear  when  they  see  a  chance  of 
creating  and  widening  a  division  in  the  Union  ranks. 

I  trust  that  the  Southern  men  who  may  be  here 
will  behave  with  a  becoming  and  dignified  modesty. 
By  such  a  course  they  will  soon  win  the  respect  and 
confidence  of  the  loyal  men ;  whereas,  anything  like 
the  old-fashioned  arrogance  will  cause  them  to  be 
kept  off  and  distrusted. 

74 


A  Personality 

Washington,  1865. 
Dear  Mother: 

As  all  special  pardons  are  granted  through  this 
department  of  the  Government,  I  am  daily  brought 
in  contact  with  a  great  number  of  Southern  people. 
Judging  from  those  whom  I  see,  your  friend,  Mr. 
Fitzgerald,  is  right.  The  South  will  return  to  the 
fold  promptly,  and  without  the  bitterness  that  was 
anticipated.  It  is  true  that  the  blow  they  have 
received  has  been  severe  and  their  defeat  unex- 
pected and  terrible,  but  it  required  such  a  stunning 
blow  and  such  terror  to  bring  them  to  their  senses. 
Here  we  must  be  kind  but  firm.  Of  the  first  quality 
I  feel  that  I  have  enough  and  to  spare;  of  the  last 
I  have  enough  not  to  pardon  one  of  them — not  a 
mother's  son — not  only  upon  the  condition  that 
they  free  the  negroes  they  have,  but  that  they  never 
will  hereafter  in  this  life  and  upon  this  earth  own 
any  property  in  slaves  or  make  use  of  slave  labor. 
Their  hired  servants  and  employes  must  hereafter 
be  free  persons.  Some  of  the  Virginians  and  South 
Carolinians  gag  awfully  when  the  pill  is  first  pre- 
sented, but  so  far  none  have  refused  to  take  it,  and, 
without  an  exception,  after  it  has  been  swallowed, 
they  improve  rapidly.  It  seems  to  renew  their 
sight  and  the  present  and  future  look  much 
brighter  than  ever  before.  Each  man  that  accepts 
a  pardon  with  such  conditions  insists  that  no 
exceptions  should  be  made.  This  they  may  do 

75 


James  Speed 

upon  the  principle  that  the  fox  advised  his  fellows 
to  cut  off  their  tails,  but  they  say  not.  They  say 
that  they  are  lifted  to  a  more  elevated  standpoint 
and  to  a  purer  and  a  cleaner  atmosphere,  and  that 
they  really  see  many  things  that  they  could  not 
before,  or  differently  from  what  they  saw  them 
before,  and  I  believe  them.  The  truth  is  we  have 
emancipated  them  from  error,  false  notions,  and 
from  sin.  In  this  I  hope  that  I  am  doing  great 
good  to  our  country  and  to  mankind. 

Washington,  December  24,  1865. 
Dear  Mother: 

To  know  anything  of  such  a  morning  as  this 
it  must  be  seen  and  felt;  neither  words  nor  memory 
can  give  an  adequate  idea  of  it.  There  is  a  slush 
in  the  street  about  two  inches  deep  and  a  slush 
in  the  air  almost  as  thick.  It  rains  up  and  it  rains 
down,  it  rains  to  the  right  and  to  the  left,  before 
and  behind;  just  such  a  day  as  invites  one  to  look 
out  of  the  window  and  remember  the  bright  days 
that  are  gone,  never  to  be  known  again,  or  reclining 
with  closed  eyes,  to  dream  of  the  bright  ones  to 
come.  It  is  a  pleasing  habit  of  mind  with  me  to 
turn  from  the  former  and  to  indulge  in  the  latter. 
Rolling  years  need  not  rub  from  the  mind  hopeful 
views  of  the  future.  Age  and  experience  should 
only  teach  us  to  paint  the  future  with  a  mellower 
and  more  truthful  hue,  and  of  course,  as  truth  is 

76 


A  Personality 

ever  more  beautiful  and  lovely  than  fiction,  it  will 
not  only  be  more  pleasant  to  contemplate  such  a 
picture,  but  it  will  give  a  more  healthy  and  vigorous 
hope  and  a  surer  trust.  If  the  lively,  trusting, 
hoping  qualities  of  man's  nature  are  properly 
cultivated,  they  need  not  fade  and  perish  with  time, 
but  will  be  strengthened. 

Since  the  Supreme  Court  commenced  its  ses- 
sions I  have  been  so  constantly  absorbed  with  the 
law  as  to  be  almost  entirely  withdrawn  from  the 
world.  I  know  but  little  of  what  is  going  on  just 
around  me,  and  less  of  what  is  being  done  far  off. 
Occasionally  I  glance  at  the  Louisville  papers; 
Kentucky  seems  to  know  less  than  a  blind  puppy 
that  has  the  sense  to  find  the  mother's  teat  and 
not  to  wound  it.  Kentucky  hangs  to  the  teat,  but 
with  the  fierceness  of  a  tiger  growls  and  scratches 
all  the  time.  Fortunately,  she  cuts  herself;  trying, 
in  her  madness,  to  injure  the  General  Government, 
she  is  making  ugly  sores  upon  her  own  body,  and 
future  history  will  not  let  the  scar  disappear.  I 
blush  for  her  record  in  history.  And  I  expect  to 
see  the  very  men  who  are  now  behaving  so  queerly 
making  excuses  for  her.  When  the  Supreme  Court 
took  the  ordinary  proceedings  upon  the  occasion 
of  the  death  of  Chief  Justice  Taney,  the  Honorable 
R.  Johnson,  who  had  argued  the  Dred  Scott  case, 
seized  the  occasion  to  make  an  apology  for  the 
opinion  which  the  late  Chief  Justice  had  delivered. 

77 


James  Speed 

It  was  a  curious  scene.  Such  a  revolution  in  so 
short  a  time  looks  like  a  miracle.  Kentucky  is 
more  unbelieving  than  Thomas.  She  has  had  her 
hand  in  the  death  wound  of  the  monster  slavery, 
the  last  desperate  struggles  of  the  hideous  creature 
have  been  upon  her  soil,  and  yet  she  is  unbelieving. 
Poor  Kentucky!  And  yet  I  love  her.  As  my 
native  State  I  am  proud  of  her.  Not  of  her  great 
sins  and  greater  wrongs,  but  of  her  past  history  and 
of  her  still  brighter  future.  She  can  not  die;  she 
is  immortal,  and  will  slough  off  the  putrid  carcass 
of  slavery,  and  in  my  mind's  eye  I  see  her  robed  in 
all  the  brightness  and  vigor  of  that  coming  time, 
and  love  her  as  she  is  to  be. 

Washington,  December  31,  1865. 
Dear  Mother: 

This  is  the  last  Sunday  in  the  year;  if  obedient 
to  your  precepts  and  practice,  I  would  run  over  the 
things  done  wrong  and  the  duties  omitted,  that  I 
might  be  better  able  in  the  coming  year  to  do  more 
and  fail  less.  I  am  so  situated,  however,  that 
pressing  duties  of  the  hour  are  of  such  moment  to 
the  future  that  I  have  but  little  time  and  little 
inclination  to  turn  my  eyes  backward.  "Let  the 
dead  bury  the  dead."  Great  questions  and  great 
events  of  great  moment  to  the  country  and  to 
mankind  and  with  the  shaping  of  which  I  have 
more  or  less  to  do,  so  crowd  upon  one  another  that 

78 


A  Personality 

there  is  no  time  for  stately  and  solemn  funerals 
over  the  dead  past.  On  we  must  go,  and  it  would 
be  as  silly  to  go  forward  in  the  dark  with  the 
lantern  behind  as  to  be  thinking  and  dreaming  of 
the  past  just  now.  Then  "let  the  dead  bury  the 
dead."  I  am  in  for  the  new  year  and  nerved  to  the 
work  it  brings  and  ever  hopeful  that  an  honest  and 
intelligent  discharge  of  duty  will,  under  God,  yield 
pleasant  and  healthful  fruit. 

I  am  to-day  full  of  vigor  in  mind  and  body.  I 
trust  that  the  new  year  will  find  you  as  I  am  in 
health  to-day. 


79 


James  Speed 
CHAPTER  VI. 

1866 

IN  1866  every  official  in  Washington  was 
pressed  to  his  limit  not  alone  with  labor,  but 
with  the  discontent  and  acrimony  of  recon- 
struction days.  The  President  and  his  cabinet, 
the  President  and  both  houses  of  Congress 
were  largely  at  cross  purposes.  Of  course, 
every  history  is  full  of  details  concerning  this 
period  which  culminated  in  the  impeachment 
and  trial  of  President  Johnson,  so  nothing  need 
be  said  other  than  that  James  Speed  let  very 
little  of  the  feeling  which  was  rampant  in  those 
days  creep  into  his  letters  to  his  mother. 

Washington,  February  n,  1866. 
Dear  Mother: 

I  have  other  invitations  to  dinner  on  my  table. 
They  will  be  declined.  I  am  now  so  deeply  in 
debt  that  I  fear  both  for  my  wife  and  purse  in 

80 


A  Personality 

making  payment.  Payment  must  be  made,  how- 
ever, as  far  as  her  health  and  honesty  will  permit. 
Good  breeding  and  common  honesty  are  never  in 
conflict. 

Washington,  February  18,  1866. 
Dear  Mother: 

In  an  occasion  like  this,  when  the  vitally  import- 
ant and  great  principles  upon  which  society  is 
organized,  are  being  discussed,  when  parties  are 
forming  as  to  the  truth  or  falsity  of  those  principles, 
and  when  the  individual  love  of  place,  of  power 
and  of  personal  ambition  and  personal  prejudice 
come  in  to  disturb  the  judgment  and  stimulate 
passion,  a  good  deal  of  excitement  must  be  ex- 
pected. Just  now  there  is  much  excitement  both 
here  and  throughout  the  country.  It  is  awed, 
however,  into  quiet  and  a  becoming  demeanor,  by 
reason  of  the  greater  trouble  through  which  we 
have  just  past,  or  rather  from  which  we  are  just 
emerging.  All  parties  and  all  shades  of  all  parties 
desire  to  have  our  troubles  forever  settled.  What 
will  bring  about  such  a  permanent  settlement  is 
the  question.  Upon  this  there  is  a  decided  and 
wide  difference  of  opinion.  No  harm  can  possibly 
come  of  this  difference  if  the  contestants  will  con- 
tinue to  debate  it.  Let  all  men  have  a  fair  and 
open  field  for  free  thought  and  free  speech  through- 
out the  land  and  the  man  who  has  not  faith  in  the 
ultimate  and  eternal  triumph  of  truth  is  an  infidel. 

81 


James  Speed 

Whilst  there  is  much  occasion  for  concern  in  the 
present  aspect  of  affairs,  so  much  that  all  good  men 
should  act  up  to  their  convictions  with  courage  and 
energy,  there  is  much  to  rejoice  over  and  be  thank- 
ful for. 

First,  the  number  of  sane  men,  either  North  or 
South,  who  regret  the  destruction  of  slavery,  is  so 
small  that  it  gives  concern  to  nobody. 

Second,  the  promptness  with  which  the  whole 
seceded  States  have  surrendered  slavery  proves 
that  there  was  deep  down  in  the  breast  of  almost 
every  man  an  unexpressed  conviction  that  slavery 
was  wrong.  Many  have  declared  it  to  be  good 
because  they  could  not  see  how  to  rid  themselves 
of  it.  It  has  been  destroyed;  the  price  of  opinion 
and  lifelong  prejudices  prevent  them  from  denounc- 
ing it  as  a  sin  and  a  wrong;  they  will  and  do  say 
that  the  institution  must  not  be  restored.  A 
little  more  time  and  a  little  more  self-searching  will 
efface  or  revise  their  former  convictions. 

The  mind  naturally  loves  that  which  is  good 
more  than  that  which  is  evil,  loves  truth  and  justice 
more  than  falsehood  and  error.  Often  it  is  troubled 
and  perplexed  to  find  out  what  is  good  and  what 
not,  to  separate  the  truth  from  falsehood,  justice 
from  error.  The  history  of  all  the  religions  of  the 
world  and  the  lives  of  martyrs  teach  us  that  the 
above  remark  is  true.  Men  have  died  ignominious 


82 


A  Personality 

and  cruel  deaths  for  the  sake  of  gross  and  foul 
errors,  and  since,  because  they  honestly  believed  in 
their  justice  and  truth.  The  fidelity  and  courage 
of  a  martyr  does  not  prove  the  truth  of  his  belief, 
but  attests  the  honesty  and  sincerity  of  his  con- 
victions. 

The  South  had  many  martyrs  to  the  cause  of 
slavery — men  who  freely  pledged  and  gave  their 
lives  to  prove  that  slavery  was  of  divine  origin — 
and  yet,  ere  the  sod  has  grown  over  their  graves, 
their  surviving  companions  reject  the  testimony, 
and  by  their  conduct,  which  speaks  louder  than 
words,  declare  that  it  is  an  evil  and  rejoice  in  its 
destruction.  Such  a  change  is  wonderful — almost 
a  miracle.  There  is  nothing  like  it  in  the  history 
of  the  past.  Let  us  clap  our  hands  and  rejoice 
exceedingly.  With  such  a  wonder  from  the  recent 
past  staring  us  full  in  the  face,  can  we  be  downcast 
because  of  the  shadows  and  light  clouds  that  hang 
over  our  path?  Robing  ourselves  in  the  remem- 
brance of  the  glorious  brightness  of  the  past,  let 
us  move  on,  and  the  shadows  and  clouds  that  alarm 
those  who  are  weak  in  hope  and  faith  will  disappear. 

The  time  was  when  in  my  shortsightedness  I 
thought  that  God  had  cast  my  lot  in  evil  times. 
I  do  not  think  so  now.  It  is  good  to  have  lived  in 
these  times  and  with  the  men  of  this  age.  The 
common  people  have  been  the  heroes  of  the  times, 
and  the  sentiment  of  the  common  people  has 


James  Speed 

achieved  a  triumph  which,  it  is  hoped,  will  be 
perpetual.  To  go  down  to  an  undistinguished 
grave  from  such  times  and  from  against  such  men 
is  greatly  more  to  be  desired  than  to  have  an  ever 
enduring  monument,  for  effort  and  courage  wasted 
to  establish  wrong. 

On  reading  over  this  letter,  I  find  it  full  of 
commonplace  sentiments,  but  these  commonplace 
sentiments  ought  to  be  called  up  frequently  and 
then  made  to  give  assistance  in  meeting  the  trials 
of  life.  The  best  preachers  rarely  say  anything 
new — indeed,  I  may  say  never — and  yet,  preaching 
is  of  singular  service,  inasmuch  as  it  calls  to  mind 
the  moral  rules  upon  which  rest  the  practical  ethics 
of  life.  It  is  like  agitating  water  to  keep  it  from 
stagnating  and  becoming  foul. 

Washington,  February  25,  1866. 
Dear  Mother: 

Last  Sunday  I  wrote  to  you  jubilant;  to-day  I 
am  still  full  of  trust,  hope,  and  confidence  in  the 
final  triumph  of  truth  and  equal  justice;  troubles 
and  difficulties  that  I  did  not  anticipate  are  upon 
us.  A  storm  of  acrimony  and  bitterness  seems  to 
be  brewing.  The  people  have  steered,  worked, 
and  saved  the  Ship  of  State  through  times  and 
seasons  of  greater  peril.  They  will  do  so  again. 

84 


ENLARGED  FROM   BRADY  PICTURE  OF  PRESIDENT  LINCOLN 
AND  CABINET 


A  Personality 

The  people  saved  a  periled  government  and  nation- 
ality; they  can  and  they  will  reconstruct  and  pre- 
serve that  for  which  they  sacrificed  so  much  blood 
and  treasure. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  most  difficult  lesson 
for  the  would-be  great  men  of  this  age  to  learn  and 
understand  is  that  the  age  of  hero-worship  is  past. 
Intelligence  has  become  so  general  and  so  elevated 
that  no  man  of  this  age  is  like  Saul,  "head  and 
shoulders  taller  than  the  rest."  Leadership  now 
and  forever  hereafter  must  be  a  different  thing  and 
requiring  a  different  temperament  and  talents  from 
those  heretofore  exhibited  by  great  leaders.  To 
accomplish  present  and  lasting  good  a  man  must 
not  only  believe  that  he  is  right,  but  must  be  right. 
The  calm  and  collected  wisdom  of  this  intelligent 
people  is  greater  than  that  of  any  one  man.  Still 
each  individual  man  must  diligently  seek  to  find 
out  what  is  right  and  fearlessly  pursue  it.  Truth 
is  born  of  a  full  and  fearless  comparison  and  con- 
flict of  opinion.  The  man  who  would  find  the 
truth  must  make  up  his  mind  for  the  comparison 
and  conflict.  Without  such  comparison  and  con- 
flict he  can  never  be  sure  that  he  is  right.  For  the 
sake  of  the  right  and  for  himself  he  must  go  into 
it  as  cheerfully  as  a  well  trained  soldier  into  battle. 

Be  not  downcast  or  gloomy  because  this  day  is 
dark.  I  think  I  see  when  and  how  the  storm  might 
have  been  avoided,  but  the  opportunity  is  long 

85 


James  Speed 

gone  and  can  not  now  be  recalled.  We  have  lived 
through  much  gloomier  times  and  days,  and  since 
then  have  seen  many  bright  ones.  So  will  it  be 
again. 

The  courage  and  steady  purpose  of  this  people 
have  been  tried  and  proved  on  a  thousand  battle- 
fields; now  their  fidelity  to  truth  and  justice  must 
be  tried  and  proved.  This  is  a  contest  of  a  much 
higher  order.  The  war  has  prepared  men  for  it; 
it  has  quickened  their  intellects,  enlarged  their 
views,  given  them  practiced  courage,  self-reliance, 
and  individuality.  A  people  trained  in  such  a 
school  and  with  so  much  at  stake  of  interest  and 
of  horror  are  not  going  to  falter. 

Washington,  March  25,  1866. 
Dear  Mother: 

Having  had  to  write  an  opinion  this  morning 
for  the  Secretary  of  State,  I  have  but  little  time 
to  say  much  to  you.  If  at  home  it  would  have  been 
one  of  the  Sunday  mornings  on  which  I  could  not 
make  my  dutiful  bow. 

Things  look  misty  and  dark,  and  yet  with  the 
eye  of  hope  and  faith  I  can  see  through  the  clouds 
cheering  rays.  Present  ills  are  ever  the  hardest 
to  bear.  I  have  a  boil  on  the  calf  of  my  right  leg; 
I  have  had  many  much  worse,  and  yet  the  one  I  now 
have  annoys  and  hurts  me  worse  than  the  memory 

86 


A  Personality 

I  have  heretofore  had.  It  does  not  follow  because 
I  fret  and  complain  of  the  one  I  now  have  and  forget 
those  of  the  past,  that  it  is  more  dangerous  than 
others.  It  is  kind  in  Nature  to  make  me  oblivious 
of  past  suffering;  it  is  equally  kind  in  Nature  to 
make  me  think  of  the  present  sore  as  I  will  be  thus 
induced  to  apply  the  appropriate  remedy.  It  is 
in  the  moral  and  political  world  as  in  the  physical — 
pains  and  aches  are  calls  for  remedies.  The  excited 
and  roused  intellects  of  this  country  are  all  seeking 
earnestly  and  honestly  to  find  the  appropriate 
remedy  and  it  will  be  done. 

For  a  time  we  may  be  in  a  mist  and  fog.  So  we 
were  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  Rebellion.  Clear 
in  mind  and  pure  in  purpose,  the  people  of  this 
country  will,  after  a  while,  find  the  true  path,  just 
as  they  did  when  called  to  meet  so  gigantic  a  rebel- 
lion. My  boil  frets  me  and  yet  the  chances  are 
as  one  thousand  to  one  that  it  will  get  well.  The 
vigorous  strength  and  health  of  this  people  will 
slough  off  the  present  ills,  as  my  body  will  the 
present  matter  that  causes  me  such  sore  pain. 
Then  be  of  good  cheer. 

If  James  Speed  did  not  write  to  his  mother 
concerning  the  growing  breach  between  the 
President  and  himself,  he  must  have  written 
fully  to  his  boyhood  chum  and  lifelong  confidant, 

87 


James  Speed 

his  brother  Joshua.  In  the  two  following  let- 
ters, written  March  27  and  April  I  by  Joshua 
Speed  in  Louisville,  it  is  very  evident  that 
James  Speed  had  written  him  at  length  con- 
cerning the  position  in  which  he  found  himself 
with  opinions  and  convictions  that  he  could 
not  give  up  and  which  were  evidently  at  vari- 
ance with  those  of  the  President. 

Louisville,  March  27,  1866. 
Dear  James: 

With  regard  to  your  second  letter  which  I  shall 
of  course  regard  as  strictly  confidential,  I  have 
felt  for  some  time  that  your  position  was  a  delicate 
one.  Of  course,  you  can  not  and  will  not  change 
your  opinions  or  convictions  to  hold  peace.  Yet 
at  the  same  time,  so  long  as  the  President  holding 
different  opinions  and  very  widely  different  con- 
victions, does  not  make  it  a  cause  of  difference. 
Is  it  not  a  good  reason  why  you  should  yourself 
bring  about  a  breach? 

It  occurs  to  me  that  on  the  high  points  of  honor 
you  can  not  take  any  other  course,  so  long  as  all 
your  official  and  personal  relations  with  the  Presi- 
dent are  such  as  you  would  have  them. 

JOSHUA  SPEED. 

88 


A  Personality 

Louisville,  April  I,  1866. 
Dear  James: 

As  to  your  own  course  under  the  circumstances 
which  surround  you,  I  have  to  say  that  personally 
it  would  be  to  your  interest  to  return.  But  there 
are  other  considerations  other  than  mere  personal 
interest,  which  should  have  much  weight  with  you. 

You  were  appointed  by  the  late  President,  as 
a  representative  man  of  the  party  for  freedom  in 
the  slave  States.  The  country  and  the  party  are 
both  satisfied  with  the  appointment.  It  would 
grieve  those  with  whose  political  fortunes  your 
political  destiny  is  linked,  for  you  to  quit.  While 
what  is  still  worse,  it  would  gladden  the  hearts  of 
your  enemies.  So  long  as  you  can  with  honor, 
which  I  know  you  will  never  sacrifice,  I  would 
advise  you  to  remain;  when  that  can  not  be  done, 
I  know  you  will  quit. 

My  own  theory  is  that  no  one  can  now  stop  the 
progress  of  ideas  for  freedom  which  have  taken  so 
deep  a  hold  upon  the  public  mind.  Mr.  Johnson 
and  his  whole  Cabinet  may  be  a  unit  to  check  it, 
but  the  wheels  of  progress  will  as  surely  run  over 
them  as  that  they  place  themselves  in  its  way. 
The  tendency  of  the  world  now  is  upward  and 
onward,  and  it  will  continue. 

So  from  the  decline  and  fall  of  the  Roman  Em- 
pire to  the  Dark  Ages,  it  was  impossible  to  check 
its  downward  tendency. 

89 


James  Speed 

Public  sentiment  is  as  unstable  as  the  current  of 
the  Mississippi.  It  has  treacherous  banks,  shoals, 
and  shifting  bottoms,  but  still  its  course  is  onward 
to  the  Gulf.  Our  political  ideas  will  also  reach  the 
gulf  of  human  freedom,  in  spite  of  all  the  impedi- 
ments that  man  may  place  in  its  way. 

JOSHUA  SPEED, 


Washington,  April  22,  1866. 
Dear  Mother: 

I  am  hungry  beyond  description  for  a  plain, 
face-to-face  talk  with  some  independent,  free- 
thinking  friends.  I  want  to  see  some  people  who 
are  not  in  official  harness  or  under  the  shadow  of 
official  influence. 

It  is  wonderful  to  witness  the  struggle  that  is 
going  on  to  keep  place  and  power  by  disgusting 
egotism,  or  a  still  more  disgusting  subserviency. 
Nearly  every  man  I  see  here  either  wants  to  keep 
the  place  he  has,  or  is  seeking  to  get  the  place  of 
some  one  else.  Shut  out  from  contact  and  inter- 
course with  the  independent,  honest-thinking  mass, 
and  which  is,  after  all,  the  great  and  ruling  majority, 
the  office-holder  is  in  great  danger  of  learning  to 
put  a  low  estimate  upon  human  nature.  I  would 
avoid  that  habit  of  mind,  and  to  do  so  must  for 
a  time  get  from  under  Washington  influences. 


90 


A  Personality 

Washington,  June  10,  1866. 
Dear  Mother: 

A  week  has  gone  since  I  wrote  to  you  and  how 
rapidly!  The  time  has  come  with  me  that  I  can 
say  from  actual  experience,  that  man's  life  is  but 
a  span.  The  days  are  short,  weeks  are  short, 
months  and  years  are  short,  and  the  sum  of  all  in 
human  life  is  short.  But  short  as  our  days,  months, 
and  years  are,  how  tedious  and  weary  they  would 
be  if  not  filled  with  effort.  Sancho  Panza  blessed 
sleep;  so  do  I,  but  work  is  the  parent  of  sleep.  Let 
us  then  thank  God  for  placing  us  under  the  necessity 
for  work.  I  saw  some  jovial  Italians  on  a  frolic 
in  Louisville;  they  met  a  bull  in  the  street;  one  of 
the  party,  a  fine  looking  man,  took  off  his  hat  with 
gravity  and  made  a  most  respectful  bow  to  the 
bull;  one  of  his  companions  said,  "Why  are  you  so 
polite  to  that  animal?"  The  bowing  gentleman 
replied,  "Because  he  is  the  father  of  the  cheese." 
So  I  reverence  work  because  it  is  the  father  of 
success  and  of  refreshing  sleep.  We  work  to  sleep, 
and  sleep  that  we  may  work  again. 

No  letters  of  James  Speed  to  his  brother 
Joshua  can  be  found  that  touch  upon  the  widen- 
ing breach  between  him  and  the  President.  That 
such  letters  were  written  can  be  seen  in  two  let- 
ters of  Joshua  dated  July  3rd  and  loth. 

91 


James  Speed 

Louisville,  July  3,  1866. 
Dear  James: 

I  am  gratified  to  learn  that  you  will  not  go  with 
the  Philadelphia  Convention.  No  one  need  fear 
it.  It  will  die  before  it  is  born.  There  will  be 
but  two  great  patties  in  this  country.  One  the 
Union  Party  composed  of  men  devoted  to  the 
integrity  of  the  Government,  willing  to  do  anything 
to  perpetuate  it,  as  they  have  done  everything 
to  save  it.  Like  all  great  parties  it  will  have  bad 
men  occasionally  taking  the  lead,  playing  upon  the 
almost  idolatrous  worship  of  the  Union  among  the 
masses  for  their  own  selfish  ends. 

The  other  is  an  equally  earnest  party,  sectional 
in  its  character  and  in  its  organization,  honestly 
believing  in  the  right  of  the  Scripture,  changing 
their  tactics  to  suit  the  changed  circumstances  sur- 
rounding them.  They  will  again  struggle  for  power. 

The  honest  men  in  the  Union  Party,  devoted  to 
the  great  truths  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
as  interpreted  by  Mr.  Lincoln  in  his  Gettysburg 
speech,  will  come  before  the  people  asking  that 
those  great  truths  be  reflected  in  all  the  action  both 
of  the  State  and  National  governments. 

The  other  party,  acting  upon  a  prejudice  honest 
and  sincere,  will  seek  to  have  their  prejudices 
reflected  in  all  the  action  of  the  Government. 

Two  such  parties  have  never  met  before.  All 
third  parties  will  sink  into  insignificance  beside 

92 


A  Personality 

them.  And  the  contest  will  go  on  till  one  or  the 
other  shall  triumph.  You  had  as  well  talk  of  a 
water  mill  upon  a  dry  view  stream  as  of  a  third 
party  based  upon  side  issues. 

JOSHUA  SPEED. 

Louisville,  July  10,  1866. 
Dear  James: 

.  .  .  As  to  your  own  action  in  the  event  of 
the  President  becoming  a  candidate  for  re-election 
upon  a  platform  which  you  can  not  approve.  It 
may  come  to  you  in  so  many  different  phases  that 
no  human  being  can  now  advise  you  as  to  what 
should  be  your  action.  It  is  best  to  wait  the  issue 
of  events  and  meet  them  as  they  arise. 

JOSHUA  SPEED. 

Washington,  July  13,  1866. 
Dear  Joshua: 

Yesterday  I  had  a  full  and  frank  talk  with  the 
President,  the  result  of  which  was  that  I  am  to 
resign.  I  would  have  done  so  at  once,  but  pre- 
ferred to  give  him  a  day  or  two  to  look  around  for 
my  successor.  I  will  see  him  again  to-morrow  or 
the  next  day,  or  as  this  is  Cabinet  day,  he  may 
approach  me  upon  the  subject  to-day.  When  you 
and  I  meet,  I  will  of  course  give  you  a  full  and 
detailed  account  of  my  interview  with  the  President. 
Now,  I  will  content  myself  with  saying,  it  was  as 

93 


James  Speed 

kind  and  courteous  on  his  side  as  I  could  ask,  and 
I  do  not  think  he  got  the  advantage  of  me  in  that 
particular.  His  personal  and  official  conduct 
toward  me  has  ever  been  so  unexceptionable  that 
I  could  not  think  of  sending  a  cold  and  formal 
resignation  without  a  previous  personal  interview. 
It  is  an  axiom  with  me  that  a  man  should  never 
permit  the  arts  of  a  politician  to  control  the  in- 
stincts of  a  gentleman.  I  took  my  own  course  in 
regard  to  the  matter,  without  suggestion  or  aid 
from  any  one.  Many  of  my  political  friends  think 
that  I  have  erred — that  I  should  have  sent  him  a 
plump  and  direct  resignation.  After  the  most 
mature  reflection  I  thought  otherwise,  and  have 
acted  otherwise,  and  I  feel  that  I  have  done  it  in 
the  manner  a  gentleman  should;  and  I  don't  care 
a  fig  whether  politicians  approve  or  disapprove  the 
manner  of  the  thing.  So  you  may  confidently  look 
for  me  very  soon. 

Washington,  July  15,  1866. 
Dear  Mother: 

Before  this  reaches  you,  you  will  have  seen  that 
I  have  resigned  my  office.  This,  I  take  it  for 
granted,  you  have  been  expecting.  I  am  not  of 
those  who  would  prate  about  the  sweets  of  private 
life  as  compared  with  the  labors,  cares,  and  anxieties 
of  office.  So  long  as  I  could  with  self-respect,  I 
have  been  willing  to  hold  office,  believing  and 


94 


A  Personality 

hoping  that  in  place  I  could  be  of  service  to  my 
country  and  to  mankind.  My  health  and  strength 
have  been  sufficient  for  the  labors  and  cares  of 
office.  The  duties  of  office,  or  the  office  that  I 
have  held,  have  been  consonant  to  my  taste.  My 
resignation,  therefore,  rests  exclusively  on  political 
grounds.  The  President  does  not  favor  the  pro- 
posed constitutional  amendment — I  do;  the  Presi- 
dent favors  the  new  organization  which  it  is  pro- 
posed to  baptize  at  Philadelphia  on  the  fourteenth 
of  August  next,  and  I  do  not.  So  differing,  though 
our  personal  relations  have  been  and  are  kind  and 
friendly,  it  became  a  necessity  that  I  should 
either  remain  in  the  Cabinet  tongue-tied,  or  go 
out  and  be  a  freeman.  I  could  not  hesitate.  I 
rank  the  duties  and  rights  of  a  man  and  a  citizen 
above  those  of  a  politician  and  office-holder. 

There  will  appear  in  the  papers  on  to-morrow  or 
the  next  day,  a  letter  from  me  to  Senator  Doolittle. 
In  that  letter  you  will  see  the  real  ground  upon 
which  I  thought  it  my  duty  to  resign. 

To  the  President: 
Sir: 

I  herewith  resign  to  you  the  office  of  Attorney- 
General  of  the  United  States.  Be  good  enough, 
sir,  to  accept  my  thanks  for  the  kindness,  considera- 
tion and  confidence  you  have  always  shown  me. 
I  have  the  honor  to  be,  sir,  your  most  obedient, 

JAMES  SPEED. 

95 


James  Speed 
NEW  YORK  HERALD,  Tuesday,  July  17,  1866. 

EX-ATTORNEY-GENERAL  SPEED  ON  THE 
NATIONAL  UNION  CONVENTION. 

Washington,  D.  C,  July  14,  1866. 
To  Honorable  J.  R.  Doolittle,  Chairman,  etc. :   . 

I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  receipt  of  your 
note  of  the  loth  inst.,  with  a  printed  copy  of  a  call 
for  a  National  Union  Convention  to  be  held  in 
Philadelphia  on  the  I4th  day  of  August  next.  You 
request,  in  case  the  call  and  principle  enunciated 
in  it  meet  my  approval,  that  I  reply  at  my  earliest 
convenience.  This  language  would  seem  to  imply 
that  no  answer  is  desired  if  I  do  not  approve  the 
call  and  the  principle  avowed  in  it;  in  other  words, 
that  a  failure  to  reply  may  be  interpreted  as  a 
disapproval  not  only  of  the  call  but  of  each  and 
all  of  the  principles  announced  in  it.  This  is  a 
position  in  which  I  am  unwilling  to  be  placed,  when 
I  approve  of  many  of  the  principles  set  forth  in  the 
call,  and  yet  do  not  approve  of  the  call  itself. 

I  will  briefly  state  my  reasons,  first  premising 
that  I  do  not  recognize  the  very  respectable 
gentlemen  who  have  made  this  call  as  the  acknowl- 
edged organs  of  the  great  Union  Party  of  the  coun- 
try. Since  the  outbreak  of  the  terrific  struggle 
from  which  the  country  has  now  emerged,  we  have 
had  a  National  Union  Party  that  has  exhibited 

96 


A  Personality 

more  devotion,  made  greater  sacrifices,  and  mani- 
fested more  unselfish  patriotism  than  any  party 
ever  did  previously  in  the  history  of  the  world. 
That  party  is  still  in  being,  with  its  organization 
intact  and  its  organs  known ;  and  as  that  party, 
by  its  faith,  its  doctrines,  and  exertions,  has,  in  the 
face  of  the  prophecies  of  half  the  New  and  all  the 
Old  World,  saved  the  Government  and  the  republi- 
can institutions  of  our  common  country  from 
demoralization  and  indeed  from  utter  ruin  by 
vindicating  at  all  hazard  the  primordial  theory 
of  the  eternal,  indissoluble  union  of  the  States, 
through  which  only  can  a  particle  of  the  theory  of 
the  State  rights  ever  be  maintained  and  carried  out, 
it  would  appear  to  me  to  be  still  the  only,  or  at 
any  rate  the  most  effectual  means  as  far  as  a  party 
can  do  it,  for  finally  adjusting  all  the  remaining 
minor  and  unsettled  matters  of  reconstruction  con- 
sistently with  the  requirements  of  the  theory 
mentioned. 

This  party  is  the  same  to-day  as  it  was  in  the 
days  of  its  trial;  the  same  party  now  as  when,  but 
a  few  short  months  ago,  it  elected  Lincoln  and 
Johnson  and  the  majority  of  the  present  Congress; 
and  as  I  acted  with  it  then  for  paramount  reasons 
my  sense  of  duty  demands  that  I  remain  and  act 
with  it  now. 

The  pith  and  marrow  of  the  present  call,  I 
should  say,  tend  toward  a  convention  to  form  a 

97 


James  Speed 

party  for  sustaining,  not  the  government  entire — 
"as  has  been  the  mission  of  the  Union  Party" — but 
a  department  of  the  Government;  and  here  I  must 
take  the  liberty  of  adding  that  I  can  hardly  con- 
ceive of  any  sadder  spectacle  under  the  crisis  of 
present  circumstances  than  that  of  the  tried  Union 
Party  of  the  country  becoming  disloyal  and  broken 
up  by  divisions,  or  that  of  one  branch  of  govern- 
ment of  the  country  taking  an  isolated  position 
upon  questions  of  deep  and  common  interest  and 
placing  itself  in  hostile  conflict  with  a  co-ordinate 
department. 

For  these  and  other  reasons  which  might  be 
mentioned,  I  can  not  join  in  the  call  for  the  con- 
vention in  Philadelphia.  I  have  said  that  many 
of  the  principles  stated  in  the  call  are  in  my  view 
objectionable.  I  will  not  stop  to  criticise  those 
which  are  objectionable,  but  content  myself  with 
stating  that  the  call  fails  to  take  any  notice  of  one 
of  the  late  issues  now  before  the  American  people. 
I  allude  to  the  question  whether  the  several  States 
shall  ratify  or  reject  the  last  amendment  proposed 
by  Congress  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  This  is  a  grave  and  all-important  question. 
The  issue  upon  it  can  not  be  avoided.  It  should 
be  placed  fairly  and  squarely  before  the  people. 
The  failure  to  take  ground  upon  so  important  and 
all-absorbing  a  question  must  be  attributed  either 
to  a  desire  to  avoid  the  issue  or  as  a  declaration 

98 


A  Personality 

of  belief  and  policy  against  the  adoption  of  the 
amendment.  Being  myself  earnestly  and  decidedly 
in  favor  of  the  adoption  of  the  amendment  by 
States,  I  can  not  go  into  an  organization  that  would 
either  openly  oppose  that  measure  or  that  would 
smother  it  by  avoiding  its  discussion. 

I  must  also  add  that  no  man  is  more  desirous 
than  I  am  to  attain  the  entire  restoration  of  the 
American  Union,  with  its  practical  workings  in 
more  perfect  harmony  and  concord  than  ever,  and 
the  surety,  as  far  as  mortal  affairs  can  be  made 
sure,  of  endless  perpetuity  in  the  future.  The 
blessings  to  flow  from  such  a  union  are  countless 
and  inestimable;  but  such  a  union,  consistent 
within  itself,  maintained  by  the  universal  consent 
of  all  classes  and  sections,  and  laughing  to  scorn 
both  the  assaults  of  foes  internal  or  external,  and 
the  ravages  of  time  and  change,  will  only  be  ob- 
tained by  sternly  retracting  every  departure  from 
or  compromise  with  the  supreme  and  general  idea 
fundamental  to  the  American  Constitution.  That 
general  idea  consists,  in  brief,  of  the  political 
liberty  and  of  the  equality  of  mankind  under  the 
law.  Such  and  such  only  can  be  the  Union,  the 
nationality  that  will  put  in  form  the  magnificent 
and  lofty  dreams  of  the  American  continental 
mind,  and  fulfil  in  the  future  the  highest  efforts 
of  the  present  and  past.  It  is  not  the  vague 
delusion  that  the  rights  of  the  State  need  doctoring. 

99 


James  Speed 

The  American  theory  culminates  properly  in  the 
sacredness  of  the  rights  of  individuals — of  each 
single  individual.  That,  after  all,  is  what  Washing- 
ton carved  out  with  the  sword  and  Jefferson, 
filtering  it  through  his  subtle  and  free  mind,  drew 
up  and  put  on  record  with  the  pen. 

It  is  well  known  that  in  the  political  and  legal 
history  of  the  United  States,  the  only  departures 
or  compromises  of  the  kind  alluded  to  have  been 
those  in  the  interest  of  slavery  and  of  its  manifold 
incidents.  I  do  not,  of  course,  propose  to  go  over 
the  thousand  times  told  tale  of  the  past  sixty  years ; 
to-day's  slavery,  as  a  confessed  legality,  is,  as  we 
all  know,  no  more;  but  some  of  the  most  important 
of  its  incidents  or  compromises  still  remain — blots 
and  incongruities  upon  the  law.  What  equitable 
reason  can  be  given  why  these  incidents  also  should 
not  be  erased?  "Time  was  that  when  the  brains 
were  out  the  man  would  die,"  but  now  we  see  the 
limbs  demanding  to  live  and  move,  as  if  the  nervous 
center  still  existed.  The  persistent  attempt  to 
keep  in  the  Constitution  the  rule  of  an  unequal  and 
unfair  basis  of  representation  is  perilous  to  the 
future  peace  of  the  country,  and  will  surely  cause 
a  chafing  sense  of  injustice  as  long  as  it  continues. 
Furthermore  the  high  mission  of  the  Union  Party, 
as  avowed  in  the  Baltimore  Convention — to  ex- 
tirpate slavery — includes  the  removal  of  all  the 
hateful  and  anti-popular  excrescences  ingrafted 


FROM  OIL  PAINTING  BY   BENONI  IRWIN 


A  Personality 

by  that  institution  for  its  own  selfish  aggrandize- 
ment upon  our  free  national  laws  and  policy.  That 
high  mission  and  obligation  can  not  be  accomplished 
until  all  which  slavery  has  so  engrafted  is  cut  out; 
for  until  then  slavery  is  not  extirpated.  Earnestly 
sympathizing  with  the  men  who  look  to  a  law  of 
equal  representation  as  the  only  guarantee,  both 
for  popular  rights  and  popular  acquiescence,  I 
would  feel  myself  out  of  place  in  a  party  that  favors 
a  basis  of  representation  giving  peculiar  and  un- 
righteous advantage  to  a  portion  of  the  body  politic, 
to  the  detriment  and  dissatisfaction  of  the  whole. 
Uniting  with  you  and  all  good  men  in  the  soul- 
felt  desire  that  peace,  prosperity,  and  that  amicable 
brotherhood,  which  is  more  than  any  worldly 
prosperity,  may  soon  prevail  and  continue  un- 
broken through  our  beloved  country;  that  former 
enmities  shall  die  out  and  be  forever  lost,  and  that 
all  over  the  broad  domain  of  America  equal  laws 
shall  protect  equal  rights  to  all  mankind, 
I  have  the  honor  to  subscribe  myself, 

JAMES  SPEED. 

When  the  Republican  National  Convention 
met  in  Philadelphia,  September  3,  1866,  it  was 
decided  after  the  opening  of  the  preliminaries 
to  divide  the  organization  into  a  Northern  and 


101 


James  Speed 

Southern  convention.  This  was  done  that  the 
Southern  men  present  might  talk  over  the 
peculiar  problems  of  the  South  without  any 
hindrance  from  their  Northern  friends.  James 
Speed  was  made  Permanent  Chairman  of  the 
Southern  Convention. 

On  taking  the  chair  as  the  Permanent  Presi- 
dent of  this  Convention,  Mr.  Speed  spoke  of 
the  Administration,  of  which  he  had  been  a 
member  until  the  middle  of  the  previous  July. 
In  describing  the  Convention  in  Philadelphia, 
August  1 4th,  as  one  with  which  "we  could  not 
act,"  he  said  in  part: 

Why  was  that  convention  here?  It  was  here 
in  part  because  the  great  cry  came  up  from  the 
white  man  of  the  South,  "My  constitutional 
rights  are  denied  me";  then  the  cry  came  up  from 
the  black  man  of  the  South,  "My  constitutional 
rights  are  denied  me."  These  complaints  are 
utterly  antagonistic,  the  one  to  the  other;  and  this 
convention  is  called  to  say  which  is  right.  Upon 
that  question,  if  upon  none  other,  as  Southern  men 
you  must  speak  out  your  mind.  Speak  the  truth 


102 


A  Personality 

as  you  feel  it,  speak  the  truth  as  you  know  it, 
speak  the  truth  as  you  love  permanent  peace,  as 
you  may  hope  to  establish  the  institutions  of  this 
Government  so  that  our  children  and  our  children's 
children  shall  enjoy  a  peace  that  we  have  not 
known.  .  .  .  The  convention  to  which  I  have 
referred,  as  I  read  its  history,  came  here  to  simply 
record  in  abject  submission  the  commands  of  one 
man.  The  convention  did  his  commands.  The 
loyal  Congress  of  the  United  States  had  refused  to 
do  his  commands;  and  whenever  you  have  a  Con- 
gress that  does  not  resolutely  and  firmly  refuse,  as 
the  present  Congress  has  done,  to  merely  act  as 
the  recording  secretary  of  the  tyrant  at  the  White 
House*  American  liberty  is  gone  forever. 

A  sensation  was  created  throughout  the 
North  and  the  South  by  this  frank  statement 
of  Mr.  Speed's  position.  It  was  not  only 
because  of  what  he  said  but  because  of  his 
having  been  close  to  the  President  and  his 
cabinet  just  two  months  before  and  because  he 
was  a  Southern  man  born  and  bred.  It  stimu- 
lated a  strong  sentiment  for  fair  play  among 
the  Northern  and  Southern  Republicans  of  that 

period. 

103 


James  Speed 
CHAPTER  VII. 

1866—1868 

THE  general  public  very  rarely  knows  any 
leader,  for  it  must  of  necessity  see  only  his  outer 
self.  The  real  inner  man,  the  alive,  loving 
personality  is  rarely  seen  outside  of  the  man's 
own  home  circle  or  is  only  revealed  in  his  con- 
versation and  correspondence  with  his  wife, 
his  children,  or  his  intimate  friends.  A  man 
to  be  truly  great  must  be  a  success  both  in 
private  and  in  public  life.  He  must  love  with 
his  whole  soul  and  being  some  woman  who  hgte 
made  his  hearthstone  radiant  with  her  per- 
sonality. 

Deep  down  in  an  old  packing-box  of  receipts 
and  legal  documents,  which  had  been  stored  for 
years  in  an  attic,  a  small  bundle  of  faded  letters 
was  found  quite  lately.  How  this  particular 
bundle  of  letters  chanced  to  be  saved  among  an 

104 


A  Personality 

assortment  of  office  rubbish  is  not  known.  The 
letters,  however,  are  an  invaluable  part  of  the 
records  which  James  Speed  left  behind  him. 
They  give  a  glimpse  of  his  personality  from  a 
new  viewpoint,  a  viewpoint  which  he  allowed 
his  wife  to  have.  All  of  these  letters  were 
written  while  on  an  extended  Eastern  trip  in 
search  of  relief  from  a  prolonged  attack  of  some 
peculiar  blood  trouble.  That  he  enjoyed,  thor- 
oughly enjoyed,  these  "paper  talks"  with  his 
wife  is  very  evident,  for  at  times  two  complete 
letters  will  bear  a  heading  showing  that  they 
were  written  the  same  day.  In  going  over 
them  they  showed  that  one  of  them  had  been 
written  each  day;  all  of  them  were  four  pages 
of  rather  closely-written  note  paper,  some  much 
longer,  and  a  few  of  them  covered  nineteen 
pages.  Clippings  have  been  made  from  these 
letters  here  and  there  that  the  reader  may  get 
a  clear-cut  conception  of  the  man's  opinions 
and  emotions  as  he  viewed  the  passing  throngs, 

105 


the  sky,  the  ocean,  the  beach,  and  the  entire 
makeup  of  life  at  a  seaside  resort. 

The  first  three  of  these  letters  were  written 
from  Washington,  where  he  had  evidently 
stopped  over  for  some  business.  The  later  ones 
were  from  Cape  May,  where  he  had  stayed  from 
the  middle  until  the  latter  part  of  July  in  the 
year  1867.  Fortunately  these  letters  largely 
tell  their  own  story. 

Washington,  July  10,  1867. 
My  Dear  Wife: 

„  .  .  I  was  in  the  Lower  House  and  witnessed 
the  debate  and  vote  on  the  supplementary  recon- 
struction act.  The  Democrats  had  no  show.  They 
seemed  to  me  to  be  preparing  for  a  graceful  death. 
Plainly  do  they  see  that  the  measures  of  Congress 
will  destroy  their  party.  The  Democrats  seem  to 
me  to  be  acting  most  blindly  in  this. 

My  visit  here  has  satisfied  me  that  it  is  well 
reconstruction  has  been  retarded.  I  would  have 
gone  a  little  too  fast.  I  do  not  mean  by  that  that 
I  would  have  gone  further  than  Congress  is  now 
doing,  but  that  I  would  have  gone  to  the  point 
Congress  will  now  reach  before  the  people  were 
ready  for  such  an  advanced  step — now  they  are 

ready  and  anxious. 

1 06 


A  Personality 

Washington,  July  n,  1867. 
My  Dear  Wife: 

.  .  .  Words  can  hardly  make  you  under- 
stand the  cordial  manner  of  the  President.  We 
will  talk  the  matter  over  when  I  get  home. 


Washington,  July  12,  1867. 
My  Dear  Wife: 

.  .  .  You  say  that  you  want  me  to  write  you 
all  the  gossip.  Now  you  well  know  that  is  not  my 
style.  When  cosily  seated  I  can  talk  it,  but  I  can 
not  get  over  the  feeling  that  to  sit  down  and  make 
a  record  of  it  looks  malicious.  I  am  too  good- 
natured  to  indulge  in  any  such  malice.  When  I 
get  home  I  can  and  will  tell  you  much  that  I  will 
not  write,  because  some  of  it  would  look  like  ego- 
tism and  the  remainder  wicked.  As  I  am  neither 
an  egotist  nor  a  wicked  man,  and  you  lovingly 
agreed  to  take  and  keep  me,  I  beg  of  you  to  bear 
with  my  seeming  taciturnity.  I  have  no  inclination 
at  all  to  talk  of  myself  in  writing  to  you,  but  do 
feel  all  the  time  like  talking  of  you.  From  a  full 
heart  the  mouth  speaketh  and  so  my  letters  would 
be  all  about  my  Jenny,  and  why  and  how  I  love 
her,  if  I  did  not  know  your  habit  of  passing  my 
letters  around.  The  theme  would  be  to  me  the 
most  agreeable  of  all  and  might  be  pleasing  to  you, 
but  how  senseless  and  dull  to  others. 


107 


James  Speed 

Cape  May,  July  13,  1867. 
My  Dear  Wife: 

.  .  .  On  the  road  from  Philadelphia  I  found 
the  swamp  magnolia  and  woodbine  in  full  bloom 
and  the  flowers  generally  that  are  gathered  so 
eagerly  around  Washington.  I  was  disappointed 
on  nearing  this  place  to  see  none  within  striking 
distance,  having  resolved  on  the  road  to  gather 
every  day  a  bunch  and  have  them  on  my  table 
as  memorials  of  many  a  happy  hour  with  you. 

Cape  May,  July  14,  1867. 
My  Dear  Wife: 

.  .  .  I  have  not  seen  since  I  left  home  either 
a  pretty  or  an  interesting  face.  Let  me  beg  the 
pardon  of  a  little  woman  who  came  on  the  cars 
from  Philadelphia.  She  sat  on  the  opposite  seat 
alone.  My  attention  was  attracted  to  her  by  a 
restlessness  that  was  barely  perceptible.  Her  face 
was  far  from  pretty  or  interesting  as  she  sat  alone. 
As  we  approached  a  station  about  twenty  miles 
from  here  her  restlessness  increased.  She  peeped 
out  of  the  windows  anxiously.  The  cars  passed 
the  platform  on  which  stood  a  fine  looking  young 
man  looking  eagerly  into  each  car.  She  saw  him 
and  he  did  not  see  her.  The  car  soon  stopped  and 
we  were  going  back  rapidly  to  the  platform;  again 
we  passed  the  gentleman  who  was  looking  in  more 
anxiously  than  before.  Again  he  failed  to  see  her; 

1 08 


A  Personality 

she  could  stand  it  no  longer;  as  quick  as  thought 
she  was  on  the  platform,  having  leaped  when  the 
cars  were  going  quite  fast.  She  got  a  hard  fall, 
but  was  up  in  a  moment  and  by  the  side  of  her 
loved  husband.  Soon  they  came  and  were  seated 
together.  His  presence  brought  the  soul  of  love 
into  her  face  and  then  she  was  beautiful.  The 
transformation  was  wonderful.  Strange  to  say, 
eyes  that  before  were  dull  became  bright  as  dia- 
monds, lips  that  had  been  colorless  became  red  as 
cherries,  moist  with  dew,  and  teeth  that  were  unob- 
served before  were  found  to  be  pearl-like  and  evenly 
set.  Yes,  I  must  beg  that  young  woman's  pardon. 
Love  made  her  both  beautiful  and  interesting. 
Her  husband  was  very  handsome,  and  if  I  had  not 
seen  her  looking  into  his  face  and  listening  to  the 
tones  of  his  voice,  I  should  have  said  that  it  was 
impossible  for  him  to  fall  in  love  with  her.  In  his 
presence  Apollo  would  have  paused  to  gaze  at  her 
respectfully. 

Cape  May,  July  16,  1867. 
My  Dear  Wife: 

.  .  .  I  have  been  looking  at  the  ladies' 
dresses  in  order  to  describe  them  or  some  of  them. 
No  particular  color  seems  to  be  in  fashion.  Every 
color  and  every  shade  of  color  is  worn.  The  shape 
and  finish  of  the  dresses  and  head-gear  are  as  various 
as  the  colors.  In  one  particular  most  of  the 


109 


James  Speed 

dresses  are  alike.  The  breadth  of  the  skirt  and 
consequently  the  size  of  the  hoop  are  much  reduced ; 
what  has  been  taken  from  the  breadth  of  the  skirt 
has  been  added  to  the  train.  Their  trains  are 
prodigiously  long.  I  noticed  too  that  in  the  trim- 
mings the  apparel  is  not  as  expensive  as  it  was.  A 
few  years  ago  buttons  and  shoulder  straps  were 
much  worn  by  the  ladies.  The  military  fever 
induced  that  fashion.  Shoulder  straps  are  now 
dispensed  with,  and  beads  have  been  substituted 
for  buttons.  I  speak  of  the  dressing  as  I  see  it 
on  the  beach,  lawn,  and  porch.  I  have  been  to  no 
hop  and  can  not  therefore  speak  of  the  ball  dresses. 

I  walked  this  morning  to  that  point  on  the 
beach  where  the  retiring  waves  make  in  the  sand 
the  most  beautiful  carpet  I  ever  saw;  the  figures 
are  various,  one  running  into  another  with  exquisite 
grace,  and  of  divers  colors.  Looking  at  the  arched 
sky,  the  boldly  indented  beach,  and  the  unusual 
lines  in  this  carpeting,  I  could  but  see  how  Nature 
is  ever  graceful  and  how  she  abhors  straight  lines 
and  sharp  angles.  Occasionally  you  may  find 
a  sharp  angle — never  yet  have  I  found  her  to  make 
a  direct  line.  I  am  grateful  to  a  kind  Providence 
for  increasing  my  love  and  admiration  of  the  beau- 
tiful and  grand  in  Nature  as  age  creeps  on  me. 
To  me  all  of  Nature's  works  are  comely — never 
offensive. 


no 


A  Personality 

Cape  May,  July  16,  1867. 
My  Dear  Wife: 

.  .  .  You  ask  me  for  a  description  of  the 
women,  their  dresses.  Of  their  personal  appearance 
I  can  say  nothing  agreeable.  They  seem  to  be 
aware  that  neither  the  "jeweler's  polish  nor  the 
silkworm's  art"  can  relieve  them  from  the  pains 
and  penalties  incident  to  a  judgment  of  homeliness, 
and  so  they  attire  themselves  plainly.  Their 
feminine  and  modest  behavior,  however,  more  than 
compensates  for  their  ugliness — it  beggars  all  praise. 
Armed  with  pure  hearts  and  cultivated  minds,  they 
can  dispense  with  the  strategy  of  breastworks  and 
dress.  Speaking  of  strategy,  when  fishing  yester- 
day I  talked  much  with  the  fisherman,  an  unlettered 
but  observant  man,  especially  observant  of  the 
habits  of  fishes  and  birds.  Seeing  some  fish  hawks 
engaged  at  their  vocation  and  hearing  one  utter  a 
distressing  scream,  the  fisherman  said  that  it  saw 
an  eagle;  the  hawk  had  a  fish  in  its  claws.  The 
eagle  rarely  interferes  with  the  hawk,  except  to 
rob  it  of  its  prey.  The  hawk  is  to  the  eagle  what 
the  jackal  is  to  the  lion.  The  fisherman  said  that 
he  had  often  seen  the  hawk,  after  catching  and 
killing  a  fish,  seize  a  bone  and  make  off  with  it; 
the  eagle  mistaking  the  bone  for  a  fish  would  soon 
be  after  the  hawk.  Getting  as  far  away  from  the 
dead  fish  as  possible,  and  when  the  eagle  was  ex- 
cited and  eager,  the  hawk  would  drop  the  bone, 


James  Speed 

which  the  eagle  would  follow;  the  hawk  having 
thus  outwitted  his  powerful  enemy,  would  return 
and  bear  off  his  dead  fish  in  safety.  Strategy, 
whether  exhibited  by  a  general  or  woman,  is  an  art 
common  to  all  animated  nature. 


Cape  May,  July  19,  1867. 
My  Dear  Wife: 

.  .  .A  few  doors  from  me  there  is  a  sick 
baby — it  has  the  summer  complaint.  I  can  hear 
its  sad  moan.  It  is  all  the  time  with  its  nurse. 
The  mother  is  now  downstairs  flashily  dressed  and 
with  the  dancers.  Why  does  God  give  such 
precious  gifts  to  so  thoughtless  and  unfeeling 
people?  They  at  least  serve  one  good  purpose — 
they  teach  all  thoughtful  men  whose  wives  are 
kind  and  watchful  mothers  to  appreciate  them. 
Its  wail  is  so  piteous  that,  man  though  I  am,  I  am 
tempted  to  go  and  see  what  I  can  do  for  it.  If- 
you  were  here  I  know  you  would. 

Cape  May,  July  20,  1867. 
My  Dear  Wife: 

.  .  .  What  a  sovereign  over  all  of  us  habit  is. 
Some  of  the  girls  begin  to  look  pretty.  They 
looked  fresh  and  rosy  after  old  ocean  had  been 
toying  with  and  kissing  their  cheeks. 

Not  a  sound  from  the  sick  baby.     I  hope  it  is 


112 


A  Personality 

better.  Yes,  I  now  hear  it,  and  I  am  glad  to  say 
its  voice  is  playful.  So  it  must  be  better.  Yes,  it 
is  better  for  I  hear  its  voice  again  and  again  ringing 
merrily. 

July  21,  1867. 
My  Dear  Wife: 

I  was  again  on  the  beach  before  breakfast. 
There  were  many  walkers  out.  All  seemed  to  be 
hunting  diamonds,  unconscious  of  the  beautifully 
carpeted  sand,  the  rolling  ocean,  bearing  upon  its 
bosom  a  countless  number  of  vessels  in  sight,  the 
deep  blue  vaulted  sky,  and  the  fresh  breeze, 
Let  them  hunt  on;  most  of  them  are  doomed  to 
disappointment.  One  may  chance  to  find  a  jewel, 
whilst  I,  and  such  as  I,  find  priceless  treasures 
on  the  earth,  in  the  sea,  in  the  sky,  and  in  every 
breath  of  air. 

To-day  is  a  grand  one  at  Cape  May  for  the 
church-goers.  The  Methodists  with  Bishop  Lims- 
son  to  lead  them  are  here  in  force  to  dedicate  a 
new  church.  The  Episcopalians,  too,  have  some 
such  ceremony.  Mr.  Neill,  to  whom  I  was  intro- 
duced yesterday,  preaches  the  sermon  for  the 
Methodists.  I  feel  that  I  ought  to  pay  him  the 
compliment  to  hear  him,  and  yet  Venus,  born  of 
old  Ocean's  spray,  still  lingers  there  and  woos 
enchantingly.  The  conflict  is  betwixt  the  ocean's 
spray  and  the  preacher — sufficient  for  the  hour  is 
the  evil  thereof — I  will  decide  when  the  hour  comes. 


James  Speed 

The  men  and  women  have  on  their  Sunday 
dresses  and  Sabbath  faces,  looking  plain  and 
demure.  How  silly!  If  God  had  ordered  such  a 
change  that  day  would  have  been  distinguished 
from  other  days  by  a  sombre  aspect.  Let  us  rest 
this  day,  but  with  cheerful  and  merry  hearts, 
innocent  and  health-giving  pleasures  should  be 
the  orizons  and  vespers  of  the  Sundays.  Then 
would  it  be  the  Sabbath  made  for  man. 

I  am  ashamed  of  the  length  of  this  letter,  as 
I  have  been  of  all  of  my  late  ones.  The  truth  is 
you  are  mixed  up  in  all  of  my  thoughts,  let  them 
be  bright  or,  as  they  usually  are,  commonplace, 
and  so  I  must  write  them,  and  you  may  read  or 
not  as  the  leisure  or  inclination  permits. 


Cape  May,  July  28,  1867. 
My  Dear  Wife: 

.  .  .  Yesterday  evening  the  ocean  was  mag- 
nificent. A  strong  breeze  from  the  South  made 
white  caps  over  the  wide  expanse  as  far  as  the  eye 
could  reach  and  rolled  up  the  waves  high  on  the 
beach  in  rapid  succession.  From  dinner  time  till 
dark  with  my  bachelor  friend,  I  was,  except  at 
short  intervals,  all  the  time  on  the  beach.  Having 
called  his  attention  to  the  beautiful  tracings  on 
the  sand  made  by  the  retreating  tide,  he  is  ever 


114 


A  Personality 

to  be  found  with  the  sand  pipers,  little  birds  that 
feed  on  the  margin  of  an  ebbing  tide. 

Fortunately  it  is  again  possible  to  quote  a 
couple  of  entries  from  his  wife's  diary,  which 
had  been  discontinued  for  two  years  and  again 
picked  up  for  two  or  three  days  in  1868. 

February  15,  1868. 

After  more  than  two  years  again  this  poor 
neglected  diary  is  opened,  more  as  a  means  of 
arriving  at  a  past  date  than  with  any  thought  of 
recommencing  a  daily  entry.  Had  I  continued 
noting  events  from  the  Spring  of  1863  how  much 
valuable  matter  would  have  been  saved  for  our 
children  relative  to  the  great  Civil  War  of  our 
country.  They  were  cognizant  of  as  much  as  I 
was — still,  much  will  pass  from  the  memories  of 
our  younger  children  unless  recalled  in  some  such 
form.  Histories  will  be  written  but  time  must 
pass  ere  that  can  be  done  to  much  purpose,  and  will 
be  read  by  their  children  with  more  interest,  just 
as  they  read  and  enjoy  the  events  of  our  War  for 
Independence. 

Mr.  Speed  was  Attorney-General  and  we  were 
living  in  Washington,  D.  C.,  when  last  I  wrote 
in  this  diary.  He  did  not  remain  in  Mr.  Johnson's 
Cabinet  but  sixteen  months;  had  Mr.  Lincoln  lived 


James  Speed 

we  would  in  all  probability  have  still  been  there, 
but  from  many  causes  Mr.  Speed  decided  to  resign 
and  return  to  his  old  home  and  profession.  This 
he  did  in  July,  1866.  We  had  no  home  to  return 
to;  our  house  in  town  and  place  in  the  country 
were  both  sold  before  I  joined  him  with  the  children, 
in  a  home  he  had  prepared  for  us  in  Washington. 
We  accepted  an  invitation  from  Joshua  to  stay 
with  them  until  we  could  make  arrangements.  .  . 
In  the  meantime  Mr.  Speed  bought  Joshua  Speed's 
house  and  twenty  acres  of  land.  .  .  .  Times 
are  hard,  the  season  has  been  cold,  with  much  snow, 
coal  scarce  and  high,  little  or  no  work  to  be  had; 
consequently,  much  suffering  among  the  working 
classes.  God  in  His  mercy  grant  that  a  change 
may  soon  occur  or  there  may  be  trouble  in  store 
for  us  such  as  they  sometimes  have  across  the 
ocean  in  England  and  France. 


116 


FROM  OIL  PAINTING   BY   BENONI   IRWIN 


A  Personality 
CHAPTER  VIII. 

1867—1887. 

THE  country  home  which  James  Speed  pur- 
chased from  his  brother  Joshua  was  disposed 
of  in  a  few  years,  and  he  moved  to  a  larger 
tract  of  land  a  few  miles  from  Louisville,  which 
he  called  'The  Poplars."  Here  he  lived  a 
peculiarly  ideal  life.  Each  morning  he  drove 
into  the  city  to  a  law  practice,  which  had  become 
very  lucrative,  and  each  afternoon,  went  home 
to  a  quiet  life  in  close  touch  with  the  great 
out-of-doors,  which  had  meant  so  much  to  him 
throughout  his  life.  It  was  a  great  delight  to 
visit  him  in  this  country  home  of  his,  where  he 
was  surrounded  by  his  family,  his  large  library, 
and  forty  exquisitely  fertile  acres,  the  major 
part  of  which  was  in  rolling  blue  grass,  dotted 
with  magnificent  forest  trees. 

Here  too,  on  summer  afternoons,  or  during 

117 


James  Speed 

the  long  winter  evenings,  a  number  of  law 
students  would  gather  about  him  to  discuss  law 
points.  There  had  always  been  a  strange 
pleasure  for  him  in  pitting  his  mind  against 
those  of  the  young  men  who  attended  the  Louis- 
ville Law  School,  of  which  he  was  one  of  the 
faculty.  In  fact  it  was  not  an  uncommon  thing 
for  him  to  bring  into  his  own  home  some  impe- 
cunious young  law  student  who  really  needed 
an  outing  and  could  not  afford  it.  To  these  he 
gave  the  best  bedroom  in  the  house  and  all  the 
courtesy  and  attention  which  a  distinguished 
guest  might  expect.  His  success  as  a  teacher 
of  law  was  not  alone  due  to  this  delight  which  he 
took  in  associating  with  younger  men,  but  was 
also  due  to  the  fact  that  his  patience  and  temper 
were  under  absolute  control.  He  never  seemed 
to  lose  his  head  no  matter  what  happened. 
The  many  extracts  from  his  letters  and 
writings,  which  are  used  in  this  little  memoir, 
show  a  decided  flavor  of  the  older  literature. 

118 


A  Personality 

This  peculiar  flavor  grew  out  of  the  books  which 
he  loved  and  read  most.  He  would  read 
"Plutarch's Lives"  and  "Plutarch's  Morals"  by 
the  hour,  and  well-worn  copies  of  Shakespeare, 
Bobbie  Burns,  and  the  Old  Testament  were 
always  close  enough  for  him  to  reach  them  easily. 
He  read  these  over  and  over  and  was  particularly 
fond  of  reading  aloud  passages  which  struck 
him  as  especially  strong.  His  fondness  for 
Cervantes'  "Don  Quixote"  was  pronounced,  and 
frequently,  when  reading  the  volume,  he  would 
laugh  until  his  spectacles  became  so  clouded 
that  he  had  to  wipe  them  in  order  that  he  might 
continue  the  pleasure. 

Occasionally  during  these  years,  when  spring 
came  from  the  South  with  her  tender  green 
veiling,  with  the  soft  noises  which  murmur 
through  the  woods,  and  with  the  laughter  which 
gets  into  the  throat  of  every  brook  and  stream, 
he  would  get  down  his  fishing  tackle,  look  it 
over  carefully,  and  drive  with  some  congenial 

119 


James  Speed 

friends  to  nearby  streams  for  a  day  in  quest  of 
black  bass.  But  at  that  time  the  streams  in 
Kentucky  were  beginning  to  lose  their  finny 
inhabitants,  and  so  he  frequently  traveled  to 
the  Northern  lakes  to  enjoy  several  weeks  of 
his  favorite  sport.  He  became  a  member  of  a 
select  group  of  men  who  had  organized  a  fishing 
club.  One  young  man,  who  had  joined  the  club, 
came  back  to  Louisville  complaining  bitterly  of 
the  ironclad  rules  which  James  Speed,  as  presi- 
dent of  the  club,  enforced.  He  told  his  friends 
that  on  the  second  day  at  camp  he  and  the 
president  had  been  out  in  the  lake  where  the 
fishing  was  at  its  best.  As  he  expressed  it, 
"We  were  catching  them  just  about  as  fast  as 
we  could  take  them  off  the  hook,  rebait,  and 
throw  out  again.  We  hadn't  been  out  more 
than  about  a  half  an  hour,  when  I  was  surprised 
to  see  Mr.  Speed  quietly  reeling  in  his  line,  while 
he  counted  the  fish  that  had  been  caught.  He 
touched  me  on  the  shoulder  and  told  me  that  it 


120 


A  Personality 

was  time  to  quit.  When  I  protested  that  I 
wasn't  near  ready  to  quit,  he  remarked  very 
quietly  but  very  positively,  'A  real  sportsman 
never  catches  more  fish  nor  kills  more  game 
than  he  and  his  party  can  eat.  Do  you  believe 
that  our  party  can  eat  any  more  fish  than  we 
have  now?'  I  looked  at  the  fish,  knew  he  was 
right,  and  he  took  me  back." 

As  one  writes  of  this  country  place,  "The 
Poplars,"  delightful  pictures  throng  the  mind — 
pictures  of  a  house  painted  white,  with  big  green 
shutters,  with  a  wide  hospitable  porch,  whose 
roof  was  held  in  place  by  huge,  snowy  columns, 
and  of  new  tanbark  walks  in  spring,  with  their 
strange,  pungent,  fresh  odor;  but  more  vivid 
than  any  other  picture  is  that  of  an  old  gentle- 
man in  morning  slippers  walking  out  between 
the  lilac  bushes  that  were  heavy  with  dew  and 
vibrant  with  the  songs  of  the  nesting  cat  birds. 
Then  the  figure  turns  down  a  sidewalk  which 
leads  by  old-fashioned  flower  beds,  a  riot  of 


121 


James  Speed 

pink  and  white  and  deep  red  roses,  cautiously 
the  slippered  feet  move  in  and  out  among  the 
rose  bushes,  so  that  the  man's  hand  may  reach 
some  especially  beautiful  bud  that  is  still 
flashing  the  colors  of  the  rainbow  from  the  dew- 
drops  that  tremble  on  its  petals.  He  gathers 
the  roses  and  walks  slowly  back  that  he  may 
arrange  them  into  small  bouquets  on  a  big  table 
on  the  huge  old  back  porch.  Into  the  dining- 
room  the  figure  moves,  with  both  hands  full 
of  small  nosegays,  that  each  woman  in  the 
family  may  have  this  bit  of  his  love  on  her  plate 
to  greet  her  when  she  conies  to  breakfast. 
After  each  plate  has  its  especial  nosegay,  the 
hand  which  had  gathered  them  all  so  carefully 
places  a  single  red  bud  in  the  lapel  of  his  own 
coat.  This  is  all  done  so  quietly,  with  such  a 
soft  light  in  his  face,  that  it  seems  almost  a 
part  of  a  morning  prayer. 

During  spring,  summer,  and  autumn,  Sun- 
day was  always  guest  day  at  "The  Poplars." 


122 


A  Personality 

Neighbors  dropped  in  from  the  country  about; 
many  friends  and  relatives  from  Louisville 
drove  out  without  any  invitation;  they  spent 
the  day  under  the  shade  of  the  trees  in  the 
big  front  yard,  and  they  took  dinner  in  true 
Southern  style.  Every  Saturday  James  Speed 
selected  with  the  utmost  care  an  enormous  roast 
of  beef  so  that  no  matter  who  might  happen  to 
drop  in  for  dinner,  there  would  be  ample  on 
the  table  for  every  one  of  his  guests.  Indeed, 
it  was  not  at  all  an  uncommon  thing  for  fifteen 
or  twenty  friends  and  relatives  to  face  each 
other  about  his  hospitable  Sunday  board. 

It  was  on  one  of  these  Sundays  when  a  num- 
ber of  relatives  and  friends  had  been  spending 
the  week-end  at  "The  Poplars"  that  an  incident 
happened  which  shows  very  clearly  James 
Speed's  peculiar  and  broad  religious  attitude. 
A  number  of  his  guests  were  making  their 
preparations  to  go  to  the  various  churches  in 
town,  while  their  host  was  seated  under  a 

123 


James  Speed 

wide-spreading  maple  in  the  front  yard.  As 
the  various  members  of  the  house-party  came 
by  him  on  their  way  to  the  front  gate,  each 
asked  him  if  he  were  going  to  church,  and  to 
each  he  replied,  "Why,  yes,  of  course  I'm  going 
to  church.  This  is  Sunday." 

After  dinner,  when  the  whole  party  was 
seated  under  the  shade  of  the  old  tree,  a  lively 
fusillade  of  talk  was  begun  concerning  the  ser- 
mons heard,  the  people  met  at  church,  and  the 
costumes  they  happened  to  wear.  For  some 
time  a  quiet,  amused  smile  touched  the  corners 
of  the  old  gentleman's  eyes,  and  he  appeared  to 
be  waiting  for  some  questions  which  he  felt 
sure  would  be  asked.  At  length  one  of  the 
party  turned  to  him  and  said: 

"By  the  way,  which  one  of  the  churches  did 
you  go  to  after  all,  and  what  sort  of  a  sermon 
did  you  hear,  and  how  were  the  folks  dressed?" 

His  smile  broadened  until  it  lighted  his 
whole  face,  and  then  he  said: 

124 


A  Personality 

"Why,  I  went  to  the  oldest  church  of  them 
all  to-day,"  and  then  he  paused. 

"Which  one  was  that,"  some  one  asked,  "the 
Jewish  or  the  Catholic  Church?" 

Again  the  smile  flitted  about  his  eyes,  as  he 
answered : 

"I  spent  the  whole  of  the  morning  on  Bear- 
grass  Creek  at  Big  Rock,  and  I  was  the  only  man 
in  the  congregation.  The  sermon  was  not 
spoken  in  words,  it  was  merely  felt;  but  the 
church  in  which  I  sat  had  a  wonderful  ceiling 
that  was  an  intricate  mosaic  of  delicate  green, 
with  small  splashes  of  pale  blue  showing  through, 
and  floating  down  the  long,  dim  corridors  that 
were  carpeted  with  the  softest  green,  came  the 
voices  of  the  choristers.  It  wasn't  a  trained 
chorus,  but  in  some  way  all  of  the  voices  of  the 
feathered  songsters  seemed  to  blend  wonder- 
fully with  the  sounds  that  came  from  the  leaves 
and  with  the  hoarse  undercurrent  of  melody  that 
came  from  the  water,  as  it  rushed  over  the  stones 

above  Big  Rock. 

125 


James  Speed 

"There  was  one  very  noticeable  feature  in 
this  church  in  which  I  worshipped,  and  that 
was  the  fashions.  The  fashions  were  as  old  as 
old  Mother  Nature  herself,  and  although  some 
of  the  colors  worn  were  gaudy,  yet  there  was 
a  harmony  about  them  that  was  wonderfully 
pleasing.  To  tell  you  the  truth,  the  costumes 
made  so  little  impression  on  me  that  I  didn't 
think  of  them  a  second  time." 

Again  there  was  a  short  pause,  in  which  the 
quiet  smile  wrinkled  the  corners  of  his  eyes,  and 
then  he  continued: 

"I  only  wish  that  all  of  the  churches  to  which 
you  good  folks  went  this  morning  had  been  as 
free  from  the  dictates  of  Dame  Fashion  as  mine 
was." 

Although  James  Speed  had  served  his  State 
and  his  country  in  many  offices  and  been 
intensely  interested  in  the  political  world,  still 
he  never  seemed  to  become  anything  of  a 
politician.  During  the  latter  part  of  his  life  his 

126 


A  Personality 

interest  in  politics  continued,  but  he  was  never 
willing  to  accept  any  office,  but  gave  himself 
up  to  his  practice,  his  family,  and  his  friends. 

Two  years  before  his  death  his  wife  passed 
away  very  suddenly  and  it  seemed  as  if  it  were 
impossible  for  him  to  get  possession  of  his  real 
self  again.  He  was  never  really  sick,  but  it  was 
noticeable  that  he  was  failing  slowly  and 
steadily.  Only  two  months  before  his  death  he 
was  a  speaker  at  a  meeting  of  the  Society  of  the 
Loyal  Legion  at  Cincinnati,  Ohio.  Although  he 
was  quite  feeble  at  the  time  he  answered  the 
toast,  "Abraham  Lincoln."  During  his  brief, 
but  impressive  address,  the  more  than  three 
hundred  members  present  were  as  still  as  death, 
except  for  sudden  and  spontaneous  applause, 
which  followed  many  of  his  sentences.  This 
address  is  so  entirely  typical  of  the  man  and 
shows  so  clearly  his  love  for  Mr.  Lincoln  that 
it  is  here  given  in  full: 


127 


James  Speed 
JAMES  SPEED'S  ADDRESS. 

Less  than  two  years  after  the  death  of  Mr. 
Lincoln  I  gave  a  brief  expression  of  my  appreciation 
of  his  character.  Then  it  was  too  soon  for  a  general 
reception  of  his  great  and  good  qualities. 

I  then  said,  "When  passion  shall  have  sub- 
sided, and  calmness  and  quiet  come — a  period  he 
was  only  permitted  to  see  from  Pisgah's  height — 
the  large  measure  of  his  wisdom  will  be  acknowl- 
edged by  all  men." 

Since  that  time  twenty  years  have  passed; 
passion  has  gone,  quiet  has  come,  and  all  men  now 
speak  his  praise. 

I  believe  that  in  all  the  annals  of  our  race, 
Abraham  Lincoln  is  the  finest  example  of  an  un- 
known man  rising  from  obscurity  and  ascending  to 
the  loftiest  heights  of  human  grandeur.  The  con- 
spicuous causes  which  produced  this  grand  result 
were  inborn  strength,  integrity  of  character,  patri- 
otic devotion,  and  the  nurturing  influences  of  a  free 
country.  At  an  early  age  he  began  to  show  the 
superior  endowments  which  made  him  a  leader  of 
men.  In  the  rough  scenes  of  backwoods  life  his 
companions  made  him  umpire  in  their  sports  and 
called  him  "Honest  Abe."  At  the  age  of  twenty- 
three  his  comrades  in  the  Black  Hawk  War  made 
him  captain.  One  of  these  comrades  now  lives  in 
Louisville — the  venerable  lawyer,  Isaac  R.  Greene. 

128 


A  Personality 

He  loves  to  tell  how  Captain  Lincoln  was  a  leader 
among  the  soldiers  in  that  campaign,  and  attracted 
all  by  his  good  sense,  wit,  and  anecdote. 

I  knew  Mr.  Lincoln  when  he  visited  Kentucky, 
twenty  years  before  he  came  to  the  Presidency. 
He  then  showed  he  was  no  ordinary  man.  I  saw 
him  daily;  he  sat  in  my  office,  read  my  books,  and 
talked  with  me  about  his  life,  his  reading,  his 
studies,  his  aspirations.  He  made  a  decided  im- 
pression upon  all.  He  had  an  intelligent,  vigorous 
mind,  strong  in  grasp,  and  original.  He  was  earn- 
est, frank,  manly,  and  sincere  in  every  thought  and 
expression.  The  artificial  was  all  wanting.  He 
had  natural  force  and  natural  refinement.  His 
after-life  was  a  continuous  development  of  his 
youthful  promise. 

When  he  came  to  the  Presidency,  he  was  in  the 
full  completion  of  manhood,  nurtured  in  the  school 
of  Nature  and  our  broad,  free  country.  He  was 
a  grand  structure,  designed,  fashioned,  and  fur- 
nished for  a  grand  purpose.  Thenceforth  he  was  to 
live  solely  for  his  country. 

The  question  of  the  ages  had  come  to  the  test. 
Can  a  nation  endure  dedicated  to  the  proposition 
that  all  men  are  free  and  equal?  We  now  look 
back  and  see  how  much  depended  upon  the  char- 
acter of  the  chief  magistrate  in  that  crucial  hour. 
Generals  might  fail,  but  the  President  can  not  fail. 
He  was  to  command  through  a  four  years'  battle. 

129 


James  Speed 

He  was  to  be  master  through  a  four  years'  tempest. 
At  every  point,  at  every  moment  he  must  prove 
his  full  sufficiency.  He  must  be  wise,  resolute, 
courageous,  firm,  patient,  loyal,  and  true.  He 
must  impress  all  others  that  he  comes  up  to  the 
standard  of  this  great  measure. 

And  so  it  was;  he  was  equal  to  the  task — he  so 
impressed  all  those  who  saw  him  rightly  and  truly. 
Those  near  him  felt  continually  the  mastery  of  his 
wisdom,  and  there  were  times  when  his  influence 
was  inspiration  to  all.  I  saw  him  in  moments  when 
his  courage  rose  to  the  majesty  of  grandest  heroism, 
and  sent  its  strength  leaping  through  the  veins  of 
his  countrymen,  nerving  them  to  sustain  to  the 
utmost  limit  the  living  ramparts  of  the  nation 
facing  the  doubtful  battlefield.  His  serene  con- 
fidence restored  the  lapsing  faith  of  men.  His 
never-relaxing  hope  cheered  them  on  to  victory. 
Experience  in  hardships  had  given  him  a  brave  and 
hopeful  disposition.  Experience  in  professional  life 
had  disciplined  and  steadied  his  mind.  Attentive 
reading  and  observation  had  taught  him  much. 
His  learning  was  sufficient  to  balance  his  perfect 
practicality.  It  was  that  sufficiency  of  learning 
which  comes  inevitably  in  this  land  of  ours,  bounti- 
ful in  all  things,  to  such  a  man  as  Lincoln  was,  in 
the  course  of  twenty-five  years'  diligent  profes- 
sional life  and  close  attention  to  public  affairs. 
It  was  sufficient  to  enable  him  to  see  things  in 

130 


A  Personality 

their  relations,  and  to  act  with  intelligent  dis- 
crimination ;  sufficient  to  give  liberal  views,  dissipate 
narrowness,  and  broaden  judgment.  He  had 
learned  the  theory,  the  objects,  the  duties,  the 
powers  of  this  great  Government.  He  had  learned 
to  know  men.  His  own  marvelously  balanced 
humanity  weighed  men  with  unerring  precision. 
He  knew  the  real  from  the  feigned.  Truth  felt 
assurance  in  his  presence,  and  falsehood  quailed. 
He  had  learned  how  to  overcome  difficulties,  how 
to  maintain  composure  in  peril,  how  to  be  firm  in 
doing  and  not  doing,  how  to  move  neither  too  fast 
nor  too  slow.  He  had  learned  to  think  wisely.  He 
said:  "We  must  see  things  as  they  are;  to-day  is 
not  yesterday,  to-morrow  will  not  be  to-day.  That 
which  is  right  must  be  done."  He  had  learned  to 
express  his  thoughts  in  language  of  unsurpassed 
energy,  aptitude,  and  beauty.  His  utterances  in 
moments  of  intensest  interest  thrilled  all  hearts  at 
the  time,  and  will  live  coeval  with  the  English 
tongue. 

For  four  years  he  bore  the  burden  of  the  nation 
racked  in  the  convultions  of  civil  war.  In  that  four 
years  the  events  of  an  age  were  crowded;  passion 
raged,  excitement  rose  without  an  ebb,  the  earth 
shook  with  the  tramp  of  armies,  the  skies  were 
lurid  with  the  flames  of  battle.  It  was  a  period 
of  subversion  and  revolution.  Each  day  witnessed 
a  new  scene  in  the  great  drama;  each  hour  brought 


James  Speed 

a  new  responsibility.  Who  can  estimate  the  value 
of  Abraham  Lincoln's  service  to  this  country  in 
that  tremendous  struggle?  He  was  strong  when 
weakness  would  have  been  a  calamity;  wise  and 
prudent  when  rashness  would  have  been  ruin; 
faithful  when  to  swerve  would  have  been  de- 
struction. 

With  all  his  lofty  qualities  the  gentleness  of  his 
nature  never  abated.  His  simplicity,  sincerity, 
and  integrity  remained  in  all  the  purity  of  youth 
when  he  was  known  as  "Honest  Abe."  He  had 
that  charity  for  all  men  he  pleaded  for  others  to 
show.  Quick  to  see  imperfection,  he  was  never 
exacting.  He  was  patient  to  try  and  ready  to 
excuse;  his  forbearing  spirit  dealt  with  men, 
rejoicing  in  the  good,  with  no  harshness  to  the 
erring.  He  had  no  censure  for  the  General  who 
failed,  but  the  comfort  that  came  when  the  real 
commanders  appeared  those  only  can  tell  who  saw 
his  relieved  soul  speaking  in  his  countenance. 

Nor  did  any  feeling  of  hatred  toward  those  in 
opposing  arms  enter  his  soul.  Although  his  own 
election  was  made  the  occasion  of  the  great  revolt; 
although  he  was  misrepresented,  derided,  and 
insulted;  although  the  duty  was  cast  upon  him  of 
sending  forth  the  power  of  the  country  to  the 
bloody  battlefield;  although  upon  him  were  con- 
centrated cursings  and  bitterness,  he  felt  no  anger, 
he  uttered  no  revengeful  word.  In  his  patience  and 

132 


A  Personality 

forgiveness  he  seemed  to  rise  above  the  level  of 
humanity. 

The  nation  imbided  his  magnanimity.  The 
spectacle  of  so  vast  a  collision,  with  none  brought 
to  punishment,  stands  alone  in  history.  Only  that 
group  of  fiends  who  stilled  the  pulsations  of  Lin- 
coln's great  heart  paid  the  penalty  of  crime.  A 
maudlin  sentiment  has  sought  to  cast  blame  on 
the  officials  who  dealt  out  justice  to  these.  One 
in  particular  is  my  distinguished  friend,  the  then 
Judge- Advocate  General  of  the  Army.  Judge  Holt 
performed  his  duty  kindly  and  considerately.  In 
every  particular  he  was  just  and  fair.  This  I  know. 
But  Judge  Holt  needs  no  vindication  from  me  or 
any  one  else.  I  only  speak  because  I  know  reflec- 
tions have  been  made,  and  because  my  position 
enabled  me  to  know  the  facts,  and  because  I  know 
the  perfect  purity  and  uprightness  of  his  conduct. 

Mr.  Lincoln  always  trusted  that  truth  and  right 
would  prevail.  He  never  knew  the  feeling  of 
exemption  from  anxiety.  He  was  a  stranger  to 
rest  and  repose.  His  form  bent  under  the  weight 
of  his  great  charge.  Care  furrowed  his  counte- 
nance. But  he  had  confidence  in  the  ultimate 
triumph  of  the  right.  That  confidence  lighted  his 
pathway  from  his  youth;  it  inspired  him  when  the 
passions  of  his  countrymen  were  aflame  to  predict 
that  the  mystic  chords  of  memory  would  swell  the 


133 


James  Speed 

chorus  of  the  Union  when  touched  by  the  better 
angels  of  our  nature. 

We  wish  he  could  have  lived  to  see  the  fulfillment 
of  this  prophetic  vision.  But  the  curtain  which 
veiled  the  new  and  glorious  era  of  the  nation  was 
just  lifting  when  his  eyes  forever  closed.  Great  as 
our  country  then  was,  we  now  contrast  it  with  the 
present.  The  fiery  tempest  of  war  did  not  over- 
throw the  giant  plant  of  the  American  Republic. 
It  burnt  the  poison  from  its  sap,  expanded  its 
beneficence,  and  sent  its  roots  deeper  in  eternal 
foundations. 

We  wish  Mr.  Lincoln  could  have  seen  the  North 
and  South  come  together  in  a  loving  embrace  to 
bury  every  hostile  thought  and  "kiss  again  with 
tears."  We  wish  he  could  have  seen  the  East  and 
West  bound  together  with  iron  bands,  and  the 
growth  from  thirty  to  sixty  millions.  We  wish  he 
were  living  to-day  in  the  midst  of  his  peaceful  and 
happy  countrymen.  We  wish  we  could  now  see 
him  reposing  in  the  comfortable  retirement  of  his 
home,  beholding,  at  a  venerable  age,  the  present 
splendors  of  our  glorious  Union.  For  the  Union  he 
felt  the  most  intense  love,  and  for  those  who  went  to 
the  battle  in  her  cause  his  tender  solicitude  was  like 
that  of  the  fond  ones  waiting  and  praying  at  home. 
These  are  his  words  near  the  end  of  the  conflict: 

"Let  us  finish  the  work  we  are  in,  to  bind  up  the 
nation's  wounds,  to  care  for  him  who  shall  have 

134 


A  Personality 

borne  the  battle,  and  for  his  widow  and  orphans; 
to  do  all  which  may  achieve  and  cherish  a  just  and 
lasting  peace  among  ourselves  and  with  all  nations." 
We  wish  he  could  have  seen  the  consummation 
of  all  his  patriotic  hopes,  as  it  is  our  privilege  to 
see  it  this  day.  Were  it  possible  for  him  to  be 
here  now  in  this  great  assembly  of  gallant  soldiers 
whose  heroism  sustained  and  preserved  the  Union, 
he  would  take  you  each  one  affectionately  by  the 
hand,  and  from  the  depths  of  his  grateful  soul  say, 
"God  bless  you!" 

To  those  who  knew  and  loved  James  Speed 
best,  it  was  noticeable  during  the  last  few  years 
of  his  life  at  his  beautiful  country  home  that 
more  and  more  frequently  he  walked  alone  to 
the  end  of  the  garden  plot.  From  this  highest 
point  on  the  farm  the  eastern  and  western  sky- 
lines could  be  plainly  seen.  Almost  every  clear 
evening  his  figure  might  be  seen  in  silhouette 
against  the  soft  dying  tints  of  the  sunset. 
Somehow,  during  his  whole  life  the  pregnant 
earth  and  the  bending  sky  with  all  their  beauties 
had  been  to  him  something  which  stood  for 


135 


James  Speed 

church,  soft  music,  and  the  other  phases  of 
devout  worship.  Thus  he  would  stand,  hat  in 
hand,  watching  the  light.  When  he  came  back 
to  the  house  there  was  frequently  a  soft  light 
in  his  face,  a  light  which  he  had  caught  from  the 
depths  of  the  sunset.  Gradually  as  the  months 
slipped  by  the  warm,  soft  glories  of  the  sunsets 
seemed  to  become  a  part  of  his  very  nature,  and 
his  going  out  June  25,  1887,  was  as  soft  as  the 
most  glorious  sunset  he  had  watched  in  the 
passing  years. 


136 


Index 

Annexation  of  Texas 17 

Representative  in  State  Legislature.  .19,  20,  21,  22 

Repeal  of  Slave  Law  of  '33 26,  27,  28,  29 

Know- Nothing  Party 36,  37,  38 

State  Senator 44 

Tendered  Attorney  Generalship 51 

Accepts  Cabinet  Position 51 ,  52 

Death  of  President  Lincoln 59,  60 

Breach  with  President  Johnson 87,  88,  89,  90 

Breach  Widens 91,  92,  93 

Resignation  from  Cabinet 93,  94,  95 

National  Union  Convention .96, 97,  98,  99, 100, 101 
Chairman  of  Southern  Section  of  Union 

National  Convention 101,  102,  103 

44  Abraham  Lincoln,"  a  Toast,  before  Society  ' 

of  Loyal  Legion,  at  Cincinnati,  Ohio_i27  to  135 


